


Dynamics and Control

by missema



Series: Kirkwall Tech [22]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, Education, F/M, Falling In Love, Royalty, Science, Starkhaven (Dragon Age), Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2020-12-07 15:55:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 30,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20978516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missema/pseuds/missema
Summary: Lady Melissa Hawke of Kirkwall came to Starkhaven for the opportunity of a lifetime. She could make her career as a mathematical scientist here and led education reform that would shape Thedas for decades to come. It was all that she could ever hope for, a crowing series of successes that would set her up for life.But when the academic unwittingly catches the eye of the rebel prince of Starkhaven it throws her plans for greatness into a tizzy. Prince Sebastian Vael, spoiled, bored and only looking to meet her between silk sheets isn't the right type of man for her, but he brings crowds to her lectures and improper thoughts to her mind. Lady Melissa shouldn't indulge, but her success is dependent on finding a local champion for her cause. He could be her downfall or the making of her.Prince Sebastian is enchanted on a daily basis by beauties, but Lady Melissa puts all others to shame. This wickedly smart woman who's sinfully unaware of her gorgeousness and simmering beneath the calm surface, is all he desires. He's determined to get know her intimately after just one meeting leaves him breathless. He's not a long term investment, but Sebastian is more than willing to help her plans along, if she agrees to his.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't part of the Kirkwall Tech universe per se, but I'm putting it there because that's Melissa and Sebastian's series, and because this does include an educational/school element.
> 
> This probably should have gone into Honors Classes, but I started writing this as a prompt and it ended up becoming longer than expected. I have a habit of doing that.
> 
> Dynamics and Control is one of the first topics introduced in the study of Applied Mathematics, based on Newtonian mechanics. Here I imagine it is less of a focus on what we study in dynamics in the present day but more grounded in the classical sciences where there are overlap and applications.

His future conquest lay in the foreign quarter of Starkhaven, and Sebastian looked greedily at the house where she resided on what was his third ride past it today. His palomino stallion was quiescent as Sebastian led him up the same street, criminally underusing a beast that should be allowed to run free. Absently he patted his horse, silent praise for his patience, as Sebastian looked over at the windows, to see if even a curtain had twitched since his last ride. It was a modest house, but one fit for a noble of her stature, at least that’s what he thought from viewing the outside. If she’d noticed him on one his numerous trips past her rented residence, Lady Melissa Hawke was keeping that to herself, because the house remained shut and no one came out to issue him an invitation to tea.

No matter, Sebastian would be back tomorrow, and try to think of another way to see her, something to get her out of the house. He could be so audacious as to knock without invitation, but he was a prince. That just wasn’t how things were done politely, though he was almost considering it. No. He shook his head to chastise himself, and gave the gilded white door of her house one last, longing look. He had to find a way to get to her and there were far better ways than the front door.

Though they’d gone through the dance of formally meeting when she’d first come to town, he didn’t actually know her. There was a vague memory of her mother presenting herself at court, but Sebastian had been nursing a mighty hangover that day and the details were fuzzy. While his father had merely made note of their presence, his mother had been pleased to see Lady Amell. In her words "The more they can regain the better, for they were once a great family," whatever that could possibly mean. Lady Melissa was clearly the driving force behind their visit, though Sebastian didn't quite know why they'd come here yet. Her main pursuit here was one of business, while her mother, the Lady Amell, was content to call on old friends and catch up. They weren’t trying to push their way into the court, gain influence or social standing, though they weren’t exactly absenting themselves from society either. They did venture out into society, but never more than was required, and then not for long.

It was a miracle that they’d even met at all. He might not have noticed Lady Melissa at all during the brief time they’d both been together at the same party, except that she kept company with Captain Isabela, a near mythic pirate, raider and woman of renowned charms. The stories people told of her, fast and wild and as deadly as the sea itself made her a legend, and he himself could attest to her deadliness. He knew for a fact that she was as lethal she people claimed, and her daggers were aptly named. In Ansburg, Isabela killed a man in front of him and everyone else at their inn for cheating her on a deal and repeatedly squeezing her rump after a warning went unheeded. That Captain Isabela was here masquerading as maid to Lady Melissa further drew his attention to the odd social arrangements around Lady Melissa. Such subterfuge had to have a purpose, but as far as he could tell, they were spending most of their time taking meetings with the most boring ministers and officials. He made an introduction of the briefest sort, failed to get her attention and well, here he was riding past her house and making inquires about her. No one knew very much about her, or why Isabela was with her.

What he did know about Lady Melissa was that he’d been caught off guard by her sweet, ethereal beauty. Next to Isabela, who was as like a night-blooming orchid, Lady Melissa was a spray of jasmine, more subtle but just as enchanting. She was dark of skin and hair, darker than Isabela in both regards, with dark brown eyes and jet black hair. Melissa’s frame was also slighter than the busty Isabela, but her hips swelled sweetly out from a small waist, and the curve of her bottom mesmerized him. What really made her pretty was her smile. Her soft, full lips laughed easily, and smiled frequently, transforming her face from cute to transcendent, making her small eyes even tinier as they danced. Her hair, long and black as onyx was always so ornately braided that he couldn’t tell its length, only sure that it was long. He wanted to touch it, to watch her laugh as he slipped off her dress, unbraided waves of her hair cresting down her back. He wanted that more than he could say, to see this quiet mystery of a noblewoman from Kirkwall unbuttoned, laughing and naked. Sebastian tried to explain how it was really everything about her, all of it that made her really beautiful to his friend Bertie, who had merely shook his head at the description. Bertie hadn’t understood his infatuation.

It didn’t matter what other people thought, and besides, it wasn’t as if Sebastian was going to marry Lady Melissa. He wanted to sleep with her, not build a life with her. Her personality hardly mattered outside of what he needed to know to get her into bed. They’d been introduced, chatted and had formally met, but she hadn’t noticed him anymore than she’d noticed the color of the wallpaper. Her nonchalance wasn’t feigned or artificial, Lady Melissa had met his flirting with polite, blank stares and gone off to her business, oblivious that she’d left him dumbstruck with lust. Sebastian had asked around, and she’d once had a paramour, a relationship that ended badly. Perhaps she was just a little shy of starting something new, but he had been told (and very much believed) he was a good time as a lover.

He wanted so much to get into her bed, it overwhelmed him; Sebastian was used to pretty women and men, but Lady Melissa was somehow worth more of his attention than anyone else. Mayhap he was bored and she demanded more in her own quiet way, putting him through paces to achieve what he so freely was given from others. Whatever it was didn’t matter, it was that Sebastian, despite being annoyed that he hadn’t caught her attention yet again on this last ride, was enjoying the idea of pursuing her. It had been some time since he'd put any effort into a seduction, and he found himself grinning at the thought of it, the satisfaction to be found at the end when his chase was over and they yielded to each other.

Sebastian went on to his favorite of the six private clubs where he held an exclusive membership, Tate’s, with some aggravation percolating within him. The fact that he was again thwarted in even catching a glimpse of Lady Melissa, didn't feel like sweet pursuit, it felt like his balls were going to revolt in frustration. He went into the dining room on being admitted to the club, thinking to have something to tide him over until tonight. He didn’t know his schedule, but he was sure that there was a dinner party or something equally diverting scribbled into his diary for tonight; there usually was. He never paid much mind to it himself, someone always told him where he was expected or needed to be. That was the wonder and drudgery of being a lesser prince. Too important to be allowed to skip things, too minor to lead them. He was expected everywhere and truly respected nowhere but in the bedroom.

“Sebastian. I see you’re here again avoiding the royal palace and everyone within it,” a familiar voice said, and he looked up to see Meckel standing at the end of his table. He’d been so lost in thought about Lady Melissa he hadn’t seen his friend approach, but grinned at the sight of him.

Meckel looked as he always did, well dressed but slightly disheveled, blond hair not quite neat, a beard starting to show even after a close shave and the puffiness of a man that drank too much and ate too well. These days Meckel only got exercise in the pugilistic matches or the bedroom, though in their youth they'd both been fond of sports. Sebastian tried to keep more active than his friend, because he still loved fencing, but frowned slightly as he realized he hadn't been for weeks now, almost a month. He made sure to smile as he looked back up at his friend, but would make a note to schedule some time with his foil.

“Meckel, sit,” he said, inviting his friend to join him for his forthcoming meal. “You know I do my best to stay away from my family, no matter where they are,” Sebastian said, laughing.

“I do. I am surprised you’re not curled up with some sweet little conquest or getting some much needed beauty sleep, but here you are, sulking in Tate’s as you wait for your baked ham.”

“I’m not sulking; I’m thinking of strategies,” Sebastian corrected, but he privately conceded that perhaps he was sulking a bit.

“I take it then that a certain lady of Kirkwall hasn’t yet fallen prey to your charms,” Meckel said, laughing a bit at him. Sebastian didn’t bother to answer.

“Good thing I have just what’s needed to cheer you up,” Meckel said, and pulled out a folded piece of parchment from an interior pocket. It was a handbill, but well printed with good ink. It didn’t run when Sebastian traced a finger down it, but he frowned as he read it.

“A speaker seminar series? On new advances in applied mathematics? _Open to the public for the purposes of education. Light refreshments will be served._ Why would you give me this?” he asked.

“Maker, bless the children, for they cannot comprehend the words they read. _Look_ at the name of the hostess,” Meckel said, and Sebastian did, squinting at the tiny print at the bottom of the page.

“A series hosted by Lady Melissa Hawke, of the Kirkwall Consortium of Mathematicians and Scientists, with special guest presenters,” he read aloud and then looked up at Meckel. “What is applied mathematics? Do either of us know anything about applied mathematics?”

“Not I, but you were always more interested in science than I was. This is your woman, right? The one you’ve been whining to Bertie about for two weeks now?” Meckel asked.

He hadn’t been whining to Bertie, but he wasn’t going to dignify that with a response even if it was to defend himself. Sebastian put the handbill away as his drink and one for Meckel were delivered, with promises of soup from the kitchen forthcoming. His mind was spinning, wondering at this new aspect of Lady Melissa. She was here on business, and that business was mathematics education for whatever reason.

Education was a cause many championed, but where very few got stuck in to do the work of actually teaching folks and maintaining the standards. Starkhaven had some schooling for their children, but Sebastian had to admit that it wasn’t at all a priority. At one point they were poised to start their own university just outside the city center, but those plans never manifested. He wondered what part she would play in this speaker series, other than hostess. Was she only there as a proper lady to pour drinks and smile, or was she really there to educate? There was only one way for him to find out.

“I guess I know what I’m doing this evening. Are you coming with me?” Sebastian asked, and Meckel rolled his eyes.

“I suppose I should keep you in good form, but by Andraste you will owe me for this. When the tutors left was the happiest day of my life, I’ll have you know. Now you’re dragging me to a series of lectures on mathematics just to impress a bit of Kirkwaller skirt. The things we do.”

“It will be fun,” Sebastian said, not really believing it himself.

“The only way it would be fun at all is if it ended in an orgy. This will be an ordeal, but for your sake, I hope she’s impressed,” Meckel said and took a long drink from his glass. Sebastian hoped she was too.

#

No one was going to show up.

A panic started to creep up in her throat, making speech all but impossible as Lady Melissa Hawke waited in the largest conference room in the Royal Library of Starkhaven with a very bored Isabela, her mother, the visiting scholar Comte Jacques Tremblay, and a librarian that was positively vibrating with excitement. At least someone was enthused by her special lecture series.

If Melissa could pull this off, make these lectures a success, she would prove the importance of keeping public education as part of the mandate for the Consortium of Mathematics and Sciences. Her whole membership and standing rested on good results from this venture, and she’d been working hard for the past month since she’d arrived in Starkhaven to help their chapter of the Consortium arrange it all. If no one came, then everything she’d worked for would be for naught, and her name would be tarnished in her academic circles.

It wasn’t her reputation that had her knots however, it was the expectation the Comte had for an audience. When she’d conceived the series of public education lectures, she’d thought of intimate rooms with a blackboard and interaction from the audience. Comte Jacques wanted to lecture to fawning fans, and Melissa wasn’t sure how to break it to him that there weren’t exactly a lot of mathematics fanatics out there. Aside from the University in Orlais, there were few other places of higher learning in Thedas, but Starkhaven had requested assistance in getting their plans to build one underway. A large part of their plan included support for education of the general populace, which was where her idea and the Consortium came in. Starkhaven was ripe for someone to guide them into a future that included a university of their own, a leader in education, and she could pave the way for that person. It would be a mutually beneficial relationship, once she proved she could deliver eager, interested minds to them.

The contracted cook brought in the tea service she’d ordered, paying from her own pocket to fund this indulgence. She’d considered it ensuring their success at the time, but now it felt like folly, she was wondering if it wasn’t a waste of money, talent and food. She’d been a fool to think that people would come to additional educational lectures. Most people had their work and then went home to their lives, even in Starkhaven where the living was good and the belching smoke stench from factory work didn’t blacken the air. People were rich, healthy and woefully under-educated here. They money flowed up and down the river, and the people of Starkhaven traded more here than manufactured, a central stop on the Minanter and overland from the north of Thedas to the south.

At some point Isabela left, but Melissa was busy turning all the tea cups so the handles faced the same way. The repetitiveness of the task had failed to soothe. She’d just began to worry her bottom lip when Isabela came back into the room, leading a line of people behind her. Melissa hadn’t realized her friend had left, but she brought back a group that surprisingly, didn’t look like sailors that owed Isabela money.

‘Welcome,” Hawke said, smiling as her first visitors came in. “On behalf of the Consortium of Mathematics and Sciences, thank you for coming.”

Her stomach settled, and she was busy greeting guests as they came in. After the first five admitted they’d gotten misdirected on their way to the lecture, and yes, they had been coming to her lecture, the librarian went to get someone to direct people. The room was a little far off, in the back of the library, but it was the best one she'd been able to convince them to let her use. Melissa stayed to fulfill her role as hostess, her sudden relief that an audience came making her lightheaded. Her smile was real as she spoke to people, and even mother was grinning as she seated folks. Comte Jacques departed to another room, determined to make an entrance at the proper time, with her mother keeping him company until it was time for his introduction. It wouldn’t fail, she realized after she’d seated around fifteen people. This might even be a success! She knew it was far too early to start crowing success, but she allowed herself a small burst of pride as she looked around the half-filled room.

Then _he_ showed up, and Melissa wasn’t sure what to call the emotion that squirmed within her at the sight of Prince Sebastian Vael coming into her lecture. He was all smiles and charisma as he talked first with her mother, then Isabela. She’d met him at some such recent event or function and dismissed him within five seconds of talking to him as a shameless flirt, though an admittedly handsome and charming man. There were so many stories about him, they should have named the library after him. The Sebastian Vael memorial library, named for the man that filled the pages of debauched diaries and cause a symphony of whispers whenever he passed by people. He was supposed to be a great lover for a brief affair, and he only had brief affairs. Sadly, he wasn’t more than just the surface, and she suspected he could have been so much more if he’d only wanted. As much as she'd been flattered, baffled but flattered by his flirting, she knew better than to read too much into it. She’d thought she'd be immediately forgotten in favor of greener pastures. Mayhap she’d been wrong, her normally good perception distorted, and he’d been flirting with her on purpose and not just out of reflex.

Sebastian Vael was a beautiful man, all unruly auburn hair swept back off a handsome face that unfairly included beautiful eyes and a pouting, sinful mouth that looked like it only existed for the most delectable of pursuits. Combine that with his height, he must have been over six feet tall, and the muscular build that tended more towards lithe than bulky and he was honestly one of the most gorgeous people she’d ever seen. He made her deliciously unnerved with one look, and he was lavishing a meaningful one upon her now. Melissa suppressed the shiver the might have run up the full length of her spine had she not been in a room full of people. Prince Sebastian had a way of focusing on one person that made the world shrink to just the two of them, and he was doing it now to her as she walked over to greet him. Excitement and dread filled her, because she couldn't avoid this duty, and she didn't want to like it so much.

“Your Highness, welcome. I had no idea you were interested in the sciences,” Melissa said. Her nerves made her retreat into hauteur, and her tone was more imperious than she would have liked it. He smiled at her, wide and inviting and just this side of predatory as his white teeth flashed. He took her hand and kissed it, brushing his lips over the skin with a touch that was more breath than contact. It made her feel a little weak, even as he let her hand go. Time stopped for the minutes or hours it took her to regulate her breath again.

“Lady Melissa,” he said, fairly purring her name. “It’s good to see you once more. I would have been remiss to not attend your lecture, since you're a guest to my city-state, though I have many varied interests that bring me here tonight,” he said, leaning into her with a grin. “I enjoyed our meeting so much that I thought I could share in your interest for an evening if I got to see you again.”

“I hope you enjoy the lecture,” she said, and then turned away from him and went onto the next guest with a little too much enthusiasm. There were guests piling up behind him now, but honestly, she couldn’t think with him around. The people coming in after him were no scholars, of that she was sure. Wherever Prince Sebastian went he drew a crowd, and they’d followed him here to her lecture. The room that had once seemed too large and empty now threatened to be reduced to standing room only.

She really should thank him for it, if she could manage to get the words out. Melissa saw him frown a little at her as he waited for someone in line, and then he arranged himself in the one of the seats in the front row. Oh Maker, she hoped he wasn’t here to make fun of her guest. That would be crushing, not just for her but for the Comte, who liked to think himself a scientific star. Though he had delusions of grandeur, he was a nice man underneath it all and his research was important and exciting, just not as much as the man himself thought it was. Prince Sebastian hadn't seemed cruel when she'd met him, but their conversations had spanned seconds as opposed to minutes, and she had no good measure of his character. Well, if it came to that, she'd just have to put a stop to it.

When she finished showing people in, the room was indeed filled and she beamed out at her guests. There were many young candidates for the university present and her heart swelled. It could become a reality for her and so many other people. A place to study that might admit her made her giddy with just the thought of it. Before she closed the doors, she went to check on the Comte, and found him just as excited as she was, peeking out at the talkative audience filling the room from behind a door. Melissa walked up to the front of the room and stood, waiting for silence to fall so she could make her introduction. Her mother rushed up to the front and took one of the two seats Isabela was holding for them. Maker, the crowd looked so much bigger from up here, and her nerves threatened again to overtake her. Deep breaths. As she was counting out her last deep breath, Sebastian Vael smiled at her again and this time, calmer and more centered, she was able to smile back at him.

Whatever she looked like made his smile wider, and she took it as a good sign. The room hushed as she raised her voice and introduced the first guest in her lecture series.

“Thank you all for your valuable attendance,” she started, and her voice wobbled just a little on the last word. She wasn’t afraid of public speaking, but it was daunting with every face in the room turned towards her. She opened her mouth to start speaking again, but the expectant eyes of everyone killed the sounds before they became words. Taking another deep breath, Melissa looked down and saw Sebastian smiling at her still, and she calmed herself before she started again.

Speaking directly to him she said, “You don’t know what it means to me to see this much interest in my series. The chance to bring distinguished academics to promote public education is what I consider one of the most important parts of my work. I’m so pleased to be able to share this incredible educational opportunity with you tonight. Our first guest is a distinguished mathematician from the University of Orlais, and working on some of the most important and interesting research coming from his department, but I’ll let him have the honor of explaining his fascinating work to you. Please welcome Comte Jacques Tremblay.”

When she started applauding, she realized she’d only been looking at him the whole time. Just at the prince. She knew better than that, had given talks before and thought that she’d learned to master her nerves. One must meet the eyes of all the people in the audience, to connect with them, given the chance. Prince Sebastian had held her gaze, smiling encouragingly and she'd settled upon him first, then hadn't moved on. That wasn't like her at all. But the curious part wasn’t her sudden bout of stage fright, but that Prince Sebastian was looked right back at her for the entire time, even after she went to take her seat. His bright blue eyes followed her until they couldn’t anymore, and for that she was glad because if she thought Sebastian Vael was staring at her she’d never be able to pay attention to the Comte’s lecture.

Her mind tried to focus on the Comte, the lecture and the cup of tea that her mother had passed her when she took her seat, but she couldn’t. Lady Melissa scooted discreetly in her padded chair, and leaned out to take a look at the crowd. Most faces were turned towards Comte Tremblay, interested but not comprehending. Some were avid, and as expected, a few bored and blank looks as they listened to him lecture. As she watched the crowd, only one pair of eyes met hers, those belonging to Sebastian Vael. She had a feeling that he hadn’t _stopped_ watching her, even after she sat down. Melissa felt herself giving him a smile before she could stop it, then titled her head toward the Comte. Prince Sebastian grinned back at her and nodded in acknowledgement, finally taking his attention from her and giving it to the lecture. She got the distinct feeling that if she hadn’t asked, he’d still be watching her. Isabela caught her eye as she righted herself in her seat and raised an eyebrow, but Melissa shook her head. She wasn’t sure what to think, but something wild and dangerous wanted to know more.

She could see him out of the corner of her vision if she craned her neck, but Melissa tried not to do so. She failed about ten minutes later, wanting, no, needing to take a look and see the crowd again. The faces watching the Comte remained much the same as before, but Sebastian flicked a glance her way. When she looked over at him again, he was paying just enough attention to the lecture to look convincing. Melissa wanted to laugh, to smile at him again, to tease him until he told her why he was really here, because it wasn’t for the public education. A giddiness that wasn’t at all like her filled her chest, and Melissa felt helpless as she sneaked another look at him. Thankfully, he wasn’t still watching her overtly, and she’d been so quick, he mightn’t have noticed her attention. That was a vain hope, because when Comte Tremblay went to note a formula on the slate, Sebastian caught her eye again and then mirrored her own admonishment back at her with a smirking smile. He was telling her to pay attention now. When she nodded, chastened that he'd caught her, he mouthed a word at her. Just one, but it was all he needed to say.

_"Later."_

She was at once desperate to know what later would hold, and anxious that later would arrive. This wasn’t an anticipated outcome for this trip at all, and Melissa wasn’t sure what to do about it.


	2. Chapter 2

“You know how I feel about learning, Vael, but that wasn’t half bad for a lecture about a subject with which I only have a glancing familiarity,” Meckel said as they exited. “Your girl certainly picked a good speaker.”

“I know your mathematical knowledge only extends to how much you have to pay on the bill when we go out to dinner, but I appreciate you getting people to come,” Sebastian said. He was truly grateful for it, though at first he’d been annoyed when Meckel said he’d invited people to the lecture.

His plan had been to sit with Melissa Hawke and get to know her better, much better. It had been a tad unrealistic, his fantasy, now that he saw the format and venue for the lectures. But Meckel had understood what Sebastian hadn’t seen right away -- these lectures needed to be a success for Lady Melissa. Anything that kept her happy and in Starkhaven was ultimately to his benefit. They were waiting on the pavement for Sebastian’s carriage, and though the lecture had drawn a crowd, the attendees either quickly dispersed or still hanging around Lady Melissa and her speaker. It left him and Meckel in relative solitude as they waited, though the street wasn’t empty.

“Normally I’d say you were wasting your time going after a lady like that when you’re practically drowning in available people waiting to warm your bed, but I see it. She’s got her own sort of loveliness about her, that quiet intellect. Same thing that gets me going when I think about taking a sexy librarian behind the shelves, or sneaking into a dusty storeroom full of the smell of books and hidden things. Imagine the untold treasures tucked away, just waiting to be learned. Shame there’s no such thing as a sexy librarian here in Starkhaven, and I’ve looked. Mind you, I’d rather cozy up to her friend in the white dress, but Lady Melissa certainly seemed to smile at you a great deal,” Meckel noted.

“You enjoyed it,” Sebastian said, trying not to grin too much. He’d enjoyed it too, more than he’d expected. A light drizzle was coating them as they waited on the cobbled sidewalk, but Sebastian breathed in deeply to fill his air with lungs as if it were the finest spring day. He’d made an impression on her, finally, after so many attempts. His horse knew the way to her rented lodgings without his command now, but it seemed she’d never noticed him. Today, she’d finally seen him, and Sebastian knew interest when it was reciprocated. It was just a bonus that he’d happened to learn something of mathematics when he’d been trying to find out more about the Lady Melissa.

“It was no orgy, mind you, but not a bad way to pass an evening if one must learn,” Meckel said as they got into the carriage.

Sebastian had thought to wait for Lady Melissa afterwards, but everyone wanted her attention now. It was better if he left and sent her a note of congratulations. That way, she could see him properly and outside the context of her lectures. He had promised her that there would be a later, but he never specified when.

He knew how to get a woman to come to him, and _for_ him, for that matter. It was probably his only talent, and certainly the only one that his parents ever acknowledged. He couldn’t wait to share it with Lady Melissa, the visiting scholar. Now that he knew more about her, a plan for seduction was finally formulating in his head. The lady needed to be lauded for her successful event. Congratulations were in order, and he’d made sure she heard them from him personally.

#

In the aftermath of her success, she was flying as she said her goodbyes to everyone that came. Melissa didn’t know how else to feel about this except triumphant, but that was quietly tempered by the fact that she knew that luck had been on her side. But it felt good right then, to be finished with her first lecture, always the riskiest one, and to have people interested in more, driving the word of mouth that would surely bring more attendees to later seminars. They might even need a bigger room, and wouldn’t that be grand?

Prince Sebastian didn’t wait around until after the crowd dispersed, and Melissa was alternately disappointed and relieved. She didn’t know what to do with his attentions when they had an audience of professors, scholars, nobles, strangers and her mother. She told herself that it was probably just as well that he had left without saying goodbye to her. It was all just a flirtation, nothing of substance.

‘What a delight, my darling,” Mother said, congratulating her. “It was a coup to get the prince involved. He brought so many people, and I know the Comte appreciated it.”

“I was very lucky to have met him briefly. I had no idea he’d even remembered me to be honest,” Melissa said in reply. She didn’t have time for Mother’s inquiring looks or any more questions, because the Comte was preening, demanding attention and the leftover food needed to be cleared so the space could be cleaned. All of it needed her oversight in some capacity, so she set about it, sending the Comte on with her thanks and Mother home. Soon enough, it was only her and Isabela in the room, the lone librarian tasked to assist them already headed back to the main circulation room.

“Don’t say it,” Melissa started, but Isabela’s smile unfurled in an almost too knowing display. Melissa had known when Prince Sebastian arrived that Isabela was going to request some details of why he’d come, but Melissa didn’t know what to tell her. She was at a loss as for why he’d shown up tonight, or even how he knew about her lectures.

“I never knew the conversation went that well,” Isabela said. “You didn’t seem interested after you met him the first time.”

“Obviously he had a different experience than I had. I didn’t encourage him just to get people here, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I know that, silly thing,” Isabela said, waving a dismissive hand at her. Her gold rings glittered in the light, and they quieted their conversation as they left the room and walked through the quiet library and out of the gilded front doors. It was drizzling and about to descend into full on rain when they got outside, but Melissa loved the quiet it lent the street, the coolness of the heavy air. It felt right for the time just after her first real success in her professional life.

“Do you want his attention?” Isabela asked. Melissa thought about it, though she had flirted with him inside, she made herself stop and give it more thought now that his presence wasn’t confounding her senses.

“I think I do. I don’t know him well enough to have much of an opinion yet, but I’d like to. And before you start in on telling me about him, I already know what they say. I just don’t think I should put much faith in all of it being true,” Melissa replied softly. “He’s intriguing enough that I want to know more.”

“Intriguing,” Isabela snorted and looked down the street. The carriage could be heard but not seen yet, though it should have just been a few streets over from the library, waiting after taking Mother home. “That’s one way to put it. Sinfully handsome is what I would have said. He’s going to want the chase, you know. That’s how he is, sweet thing. Don’t give in too soon, or all your crowds will go away.”

“What do you mean?” Melissa asked, cocking her head to the side as she looked at Isabela. Melissa wasn’t completely ignorant in the ways of courtship and conquest, but she didn’t have the experience Isabela had. Her friend was more generous with her favors, but she was a widow and allowed more liberties than Melissa was. As much as she hated the stupid constraints of society, she tried not to embarrass Mother more than necessary. Having a child, any child of nobility, so determined to be part of education and sciences wasn’t necessarily the loftiest of pursuits, but nor was it shameful. She didn’t need to further bring down the Amell name, her uncle Gamlen was doing his damndest to take care of that.

“I mean,” Isabela said, bringing her attention back to the real world, “that the lovely prince has a reputation, and if you want to keep his attention, you shouldn’t rush this flirtation to its conclusion. The end goal is under your skirts, if you weren’t sure what he wanted.”

Melissa laughed as they got into the carriage and were away, heading back to the rented house that Mother was so enjoying. She chewed on her words before replying, trying to collect her muddled thoughts and emotions into something coherent. What Isabela’d said about Prince Sebastian’s motived didn’t surprise her, but she hadn’t really thought about the benefit of keeping him coming back. She could sleep with him and be done with it, since he did interest her and he was making his own attraction clear. If she had her way, that would probably be the end of it, and she was owe him nothing more. But he’d brought her a crowd tonight, and she needed that. As much as she hated to admit it, she would need a benefactor or two to keep this going.

“I never do this chase and tease nonsense, but then again when has anyone ever chased me?” Melissa said grumbling. Not knowing what to do was making her cranky, and this situation was firmly out of her purview. “What should I do now?”

“You wait, because he’s going to make another move. You play chess, think of it as a chessboard and you have to anticipate your opponent as well as counter them. It’s not your move.”

“That actually makes a lot of sense,” she said and breathed a little sigh of relief. Chess, she understood very well, and she was great player, good at waiting and seeing all of the angles. “He did say something to me. Well not said, exactly, but he mouthed it during the lecture,” Melissa said.

“What was it?”

“Later. He just said _later_. I thought he was going to come up to me after the lecture, but he left,” Melissa admitted.

“Then you have nothing to worry about. Incredibly talented sexually and scoundrel he may be, but I’ve never heard any reason to doubt his word. If he said he’d talk to you later, he will. Just wait for that later, sweet thing, and remember that you ultimately decide how much later it will be for the two of you. It’s all about the tease.”

“Right. I’m not sure how good I’m going to be at teasing, but I know how to be patient. Every scientist should know that,” Melissa said resolutely. She needed a plan, a real one because if Sebastian was scheming, she could do the same as well.

For science, of course.

#

The flowers were as exquisite and appropriate as he could possibly get at this time of year. Would that he could have gotten her something rare and exotic, but those kinds of things took time he didn’t have. These flowers were just to show her is appreciation for the lecture, and what she was attempting to do in Starkhaven. Sebastian didn’t really care one whit about mathematics or the sciences personally, but he knew the value of them to his people and Starkhaven. Unfortunately, his brother Graham wasn’t a man who prized learning, unless it was about the quickest ways to make money. One day, his brother would be the ruling prince, and if these institutions weren’t already established, they were not likely to be started under Graham’s rule. What she was doing was important, and he was glad to help a beautiful woman succeed.

“I hope you enjoyed the flowers, Lady Melissa,” Sebastian said as he entered her library. Apparently the lady received visitors in the library most of the time, so he was shown into a room with an impressive amount of books where she sat waiting for him. One of his bouquets was in the room with her, and he took that as a good sign.

“They are very lovely, Your Highness. It was a kind gesture to send such a variety of specimens,” she said demurely. When she offered him a seat in one of the high-backed leather chairs, he felt the strain between them. This was not the smiling woman of a few nights before, the one who’d sought him out with her eyes and admonished him to pay attention. This woman was distracted and flustered by his visit, though trying to hide it. She rang for tea, not with a bell but by going over to her desk and pulling down a lever.

Sebastian was intrigued by her and the room around him. There was a library in the palace, but it was seldom used by people other than guests. This room was very used, the books stacked higgledy-piggledy around the room, overstuffing the shelves. Had he to guess, Sebastian would have ventured that this room was much like the library at the palace, but then it had changed when Lady Melissa moved in. There was a globe sitting on the table next to him, and he inspected the palm-sized, hand painted masterpiece while Lady Melissa made notes on whatever work he’d interrupted so she could come back to it later. When she sat down across from him, she gave him an absent smile that he took as encouragement.

They made the usual pleasantries until the tea arrived, and when the maid retreated, sadly leaving the door ajar, Sebastian pressed his luck. He set down his cup and noted the delicateness of the bone porcelain and wanted to remember to make mention to his mother about the fineness of it. His tea was stronger than he was usually served at such social calls, more like the way he preferred his in the mornings when he broke his fast.

“My lady, I was hoping to get to know you better outside of your lectures. I had a fine time the other night, but my interest isn’t strictly scientific.”

“The thought is very kind, Your Highness,” she started.

“Call me Sebastian,” he said.

“I hardly think we’re well enough acquainted that I could feel comfortable using your Andrastian name without your title, Prince Sebastian.”

He smiled at her small acquiescence, but then was at a loss as to how to get on after that. Sebastian cleared his throat and tried again. “What brings you to Starkhaven?”

“Outside of my work, you mean?” she asked in response and he nodded. “Nothing further. Would that I could have stayed in Kirkwall and arranged this from my own study, but sadly, Starkhaven is better situated for receiving visitors.” Lady Melissa was honest in her answer, but then seemed to remember that honesty wasn’t always polite. “Not that there aren’t many wonderful things here that I’ve discovered, Your Highness, but they almost all relate to my work. I look forward to having a chance to play tourist soon.”

“Perhaps I could help there,” he said, seizing on the last part of her statement. He was sure that it had been a well-meaning lie, something said to placate him for her bald veracity, but it was something he could use. “I am quite good at giving tours to dignified visitors such as yourself. Your mother would, of course, be welcome to join us.”

“If you have the time,” Lady Melissa said, demure once more as she sipped her tea.

He looked at her, sitting too rigidly, not smiling at him but carefully looking into her cup of tea. It was all too polite, too strained, and neither one of them were displaying anything close to the chemistry they’d had at the library. This was all going wrong. Frustrated, Sebastian stood up, walked to the window on the other side of the library. He looked out of it, not really paying attention to the vista of the gardens beyond, but let the silence take some of the awkwardness from the room. He frowned into the pane and caught the reflection of Lady Melissa turning in her seat to look at one of the bookshelves that lined the walls of the room. He was incredibly stupid most of the time, but he could turn this around. When Sebastian turned back to her, he was smiling.

“May I ask you a question and get your completely unvarnished answer in return?” he asked.

“Always,” she replied, giving him her first true smile of his visit. It was a beautiful thing, her smile, so wide and warm that it made him temporarily forget what he was going to say.

“Will you tell me about what you love? I’m not a man of arts or science myself, but I’m willing to be convinced if you can bring yourself to start at the very beginning.”

“Oh absolutely yes, I can, thank the Maker. I thought you were going to do the polite thing all afternoon,” she said, and he saw her shoulders release as she visibly relaxed. Her smile faded quickly as she followed up to his statement. “But do you have no grounding in the classical sciences at all? Or was it just so poorly taught that you had no interest?”

“I wasn’t an attentive student at the best of times,” he admitted with a laugh of practiced sheepishness. She didn’t join in, curiously. There were times when she seemed to disregard the charm that he worked so easily on nearly everyone else, but the attraction between them rumbled like distant thunder. This wouldn’t be an easy seduction, but the thought of a challenge made his blood race. He had to alter the direction his thoughts or suffer obvious consequences that weren’t polite, so Sebastian nodded towards the lever on her desk, the one she’d pulled and reset to ring for tea. “What’s that do?”

“Makes my life easier,” she said, starting to rise. When he laughed at her statement, she did too, giving him the response he’d hoped to get earlier. Their shared laughter further loosened constraints between them, and hopefully would give him room to work around them, eventually. She beckoned Sebastian over to her side so he could look down at the contraption, and found that she had made more parts and pieces on her desk. It would seem that the lady was an inventor, not just a scholar. Excitedly, Lady Melissa began to talk about the mechanism on her desk, starting at the very beginning principles of how it worked and how she’d constructed it.

An hour later, he was still leaning over her desk listening to her talk and only sneaking the occasional glance at her bust when the Lady Amell came in. Leandra Hawke bustled into the room with a maid behind her, already talking at her daughter before she realized that Sebastian was in the room.

“Darling, I thought you were going to have those gears sent to that room you’ve made into a workshop instead of leaving them in crates near the delivery door. It’s getting so bad that the servants are complain -- oh Maker’s breath, excuse my intrusion, Your Highness,” Leandra said, stopping dead as he and Lady Melissa looked up at her.

They weren’t alike in looks, mother and daughter. It wasn’t just the obvious, that her mother was heavier and fuller in the hips and bust, and that Melissa was taller, thinner and her skin slightly darker. The daughter must have favored the father in looks, but try as he might, Sebastian couldn’t recall ever meeting or knowing anything about the Lord Amell. Save for their eyes and dark hair, the two women didn’t have many features in common. Lady Amell’s hair was liberally streaked with grey, but it was the same thick, lustrous, dark hair that Sebastian had been admiring on her daughter.

“It’s quite all right,” Sebastian said, flexing slightly as he straightened up. He felt his back crack as he did and hoped it wasn’t audible. While he already noted the absence of Lady Melissa’s subtle scent as he moved away from her, he could still give her mother a true smile as he stood. “We were caught up in some explanations, but I should take my leave. It would be rude to take up the whole day.”

“Prince Sebastian, thank you for your interest,” Lady Melissa said quietly. That was all he could hear before her mother started to speak over her. “I have another lecture lined up already. It would be good to see you there.”

“I’ll make it my business to be there,” he said.

Sebastian retreated before he could be pressed into drinking another cup of tea, all while asking if it were permissible for him to visit again, before the lecture. He knew it would be, because both Lady Melissa and her mother gave him approving smiles when he asked. It was only Melissa’s that he sought, and when she nodded, Sebastian could have jumped for joy. Instead, he made his formal goodbyes to both of them and then danced his horse through the streets leading back to his favorite club for thinking. He wasn’t going to the palace if he could help it, but this wasn’t the time for a celebration, not yet. This club was as good of a place as any to start trying to find someone that might be able to give him a working knowledge of mechanics and mathematics before his next meeting with a woman he was now fully convinced was a genius.


	3. Chapter 3

A spirited bout of flirtation wasn’t the same as actual feelings, and Melissa wasn’t sure how she felt about Prince Sebastian. Now that she was actively engaged in flirting with him, there was a certain pleasure invested in their dancing remarks and all of the glances, but there was more to it. With Isabela’s words of warning in her head, she didn’t want make more of it, but it had been quite lovely the hour they’d spent together, her lecturing and explaining with him listening and questioning. During that time, the questions he asked were astute and more intelligent than most she got, even if he had proclaimed himself a bad student at first.

That was the part of this new to her but not at all out of the ordinary dance that made her pause. Who was Prince Sebastian Vael? Did he even know himself? When he forgot himself, he was a different man. The moment he really let go of his readily abundant charm and mesmerizing effect of his pouty lips, broad shoulders and thick auburn hair, he was so much more handsome and vulnerable than he had any right to be. She might like all of him, the flirty charming part and the more earnest and curious man she’d seen a glimpse of, but it was so confusing. These two parts were not halves of a whole, but shifting parts that made a man she suspecting no one knew very well, and that didn’t suit her. It was in her nature to get to know things, to explore and solve them, breaking them into parts that made sense. Prince Sebastian would balk if she did such to him, but she’d never met a person that needed it more, even Isabela felt less layered than the prince.

None of this was logical, and it was making her unsettled. Sleeplessness always made her seek out out the stars, and she stood in her window looking out at them as she chased Prince Sebastian around her thoughts. Her schedule was off because of him, and now she was filling time when she should be sleeping thinking about the man. Tomorrow, no, make that later today if she was any judge by the position of the stars, she’d need to finish her reply to the scholar for her second lecture. It was lengthy but this man had included all of his current work for her to review, and was coming from the Anderfels.

Her reply would be posted to an inn an Nevarra, awaiting his arrival before he finished the final leg of his trip to Starkhaven. Scholar Weissman was newer name, but his opening foray into alchemical research was catching fire in certain circles. Attaching him to her lecture series could bring a wider swath of people to them. It was also wise of her to bring in people with whom she was not already familiar, to widen her own circle of acquaintances. Academia was so small that navigating the circles within it could feel claustrophobic, and she needed all the connections she could muster.

Melissa went back to her bed after staring out of the window. Starkhaven didn’t have many stars visible from it, not where she was at in the city. Perhaps higher up, away from the water and the inevitable industry that popped up around it. The city was mostly in a valley, the fertile river lowlands that often flooded before controls were put in place had once been farms, but no longer as the city had grown over them and the land became more valuable. Her back garden had quite nice and underused soil because of it. There was farmland further out on the outskirts of the city-state, providing some of the necessary agriculture that fed the booming population that walked the cobbled streets outside the palace.

The shifting air around her was the only indication that Isabela was also in the room, but she sat back up in bed. She wasn’t surprised that Isabela was awake and had sought her out, but Melissa wasn’t inclined to share her thoughts tonight. They were too wrapped up in her work and Prince Sebastian, both endeavors too new and unfamiliar for her to feel comfortable sharing much about them.

“I hope you aren’t here to kill me,” Melissa said in a low voice. Isabela gave a soft chuckle as she responded.

“You should sleep more, Hawke.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Was Starkhaven supposed to be this boring? I thought there was more debauchery here than in Kirkwall, but there seems to be even less,” Isabela opined, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Melissa more felt the shifting of her weight than saw where Isabela sat down until she let her eyes focus on the glint of her daggers in the dark. Then the outline her friend became clearer, though she was still hard to discern by the best standards.

“There’s more, trust me. They just have to hide them better because of the Chantry influence here,” Melissa said, yawning. “Besides, we know everyone in Kirkwall. You don’t just walk on and start getting invited to the best of events, you know how it was when we first met. No one invited us anywhere until we rescued that noble lady who owned the private club. You know which one I mean, because Mother threatened to disown me if I paid the fee to join,” Melissa recalled, smiling wryly at the memory. There had been more reasons than the exorbitant fee that her mother had objected to her going, but Melissa’s virtue was already gone before they’d moved to Kirkwall. Advertising the fact made Mother nervous, but Melissa never saw the point in pretending she was other than what she was. Isabela didn’t answer her, so she went on.

“I suppose we’ll just have to ask Prince Sebastian where he’s hiding all the good parties if we want to get invited right away.”

“Hmm,” Isabela said in reply, making it no reply at all. She got up off the bed and went to look out the window where Melissa had just been standing. Melissa got up and joined her, moving quietly herself as she resumed her place at the sill.

“What are you thinking?”

“I think you need to be more careful than you want to be,” Isabela said. “I know how your pretty mind works, Hawke. People try your patience, and he’s hellbent on wearing down any resistance.” Melissa was going to protest that she was careful, but she didn’t know what that really meant anymore. What did it mean to be careful in a position like this? The experience she had with courting and flirting didn’t help her here, limited as it was. She’d never held the interest of someone like Prince Sebastian before, and his title and reputation had piqued her curiosity, not aroused her caution. She was just about to admit so when Isabela leaned into her side.

“I can hear your thoughts spinning around her your head, and I can guarantee that you’re overthinking this situation. It’s about sex, and how long you can hold out on having it with him when he’s practically exuding it while putting himself in your way.”

“How can you help with that? Are you going to stop him?”

“No, I’m going to try to keep you from stumbling over yourself, if I can. But I need to know where you’re at. Kiss me, and I’ll help figure out what you need to do next.”

“Kiss you?” Melissa queried, laughing. They’d never fooled around, not once in their friendship, though Isabela had propositioned her when they met. It felt like the way Isabela made friends. Isabela hadn’t known at their first meeting that Melissa was attracted to all genders of people, as she was, and the comment was never revisited once their friendship was established. The idea of kissing Isabela perplexed and intrigued her, but she didn’t understand how it would help with Prince Sebastian.

“Yes, Hawke. A kiss reveals a lot about a person. I could probably divine your whole personality from a kiss, if I didn’t already know you.”

“And I should kiss you so you can give me advice? I swear I’ve read this story before.” Melissa was going to make further protest but she just shrugged into the darkness. The mental tally in her head was in favor of the kiss, even if it proved to be fruitless, just so the option could be disregarded. Besides, Isabela was probably right that helping her understand her own needs and desires would clarify how to proceed with Sebastian. Though it might not. This could all backfire and cause Isabela to turn away from her. No, that wasn’t likely from just one kiss. Melissa made up her mind and realized that further arguing would serve no point. Standing in the window, she could see better now and she pulled Isabela to her to conduct the experiment.

The kiss was meant to be swift, chaste and sweet, but Isabela pulled Melissa closer. As the kiss went on, it got deeper, and Melissa felt it curling into her, an ache, a hard knot she kept tied tightly within her. Isabela wasn’t what she wanted, the ache within her desired Sebastian’s taller stature, broad shoulders and hard jaw, but Isabela would do. Bela’s curves and lovely, talented mouth were making her body forget that she’d ever wanted anyone else. Melissa’s response to Bela’s tongue pushing into her mouth was so vigorous that she heard Bela’s startled squeak, and it shook her back into herself.

“Did you mean for your hands to end up there?” Isabela asked her huskily as Melissa pulled away. Her hands, well, they weren’t where they’d started. She’d touched more of Isabela than she’d intended, and Melissa, chagrined, extracted her hand from where it wandered underneath Bela’s clothes.

“I shouldn’t kiss him,” Melissa conceded.

“You’re too hungry, pet. That was intense even for me.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken it so far.”

“And I did ask you to kiss me, I just hadn’t realized the extent of what that might mean. If you want to take the edge off of that, your lovely bed is right there,” Isabela offered, sounding shy for the first time in their acquaintance.

“Bela, I have work tomorrow. If I spend the night with you, I will get nothing done because I’ll be even more exhausted and unsure of how to feel about you tomorrow. And there’s Prince Sebastian and the whole flirtation that started this predicament, which now my mother has latched onto and is trying to give me advice in how to be most appealing to him,” Melissa said. “But I would, if not for all of that.”

“I know, kitten. I could tell from your kiss. You’re right that you shouldn’t kiss him, but you shouldn’t kiss me again either. Damn it, Hawke, now I have a problem to fix and all I wanted to do was point out yours,” Isabela said.

“What did you learn?

“That you’re an absolute tiger and he’s going to be very lucky when you do let yourself loose with him. Don’t kiss him anytime soon, otherwise the chase will become relentless and you’ll give in too. Draw it out for as long as you can stand it.”

“A tiger,” Melissa said, giggling a little. Exhaustion and the confessional freedom of darkness made her too honest, fueled by their shared kiss. “If a tiger wants her hands tied behind her back while I ride Prince Sebastian’s face, then, I guess I’m a tiger.”

Isabela was already slipping away from her, but there was a groan near the door in response. “That’s a pretty picture if ever there was one. I never figured you for the tied up type, Hawke, but I’m going to be imagining it all night. Cheers.”

Melissa grinned into the darkness, and tried to forget the wetness between her legs as she got back in bed. But tigers chased, didn’t they? She was the prey here, she wasn’t the one doing the hunting. She couldn’t rightly call herself a hunter when she hadn’t noticed or picked up on his interest at their first meeting, but she was firmly in this chase now. Or not a chase, whatever it was. Perhaps a dance. Her last thought as she finally dropped off to sleep was she wondered if tigers ever danced. Weren’t mating dances just for birds?

#

The entire household was keeping Sebastian waiting, and he didn’t mind one bit. Lady Melissa was indisposed, he’d been told upon his arrival, so he’d been taken to yet another tea in her morning room. This one came with a personal recommendation from Lady Melissa, to try this blend of her own creation, which Sebastian did with great brio. If the lady had made and recommended it, he was inclined to try it. He hadn’t realized that people made their own tea blends, but they must, it was just that he never set foot in a kitchen if he could help it. It tasted like sweet, hot caramel and flowers blended together, and put him in mind of a warm winter’s night inside. Usually it was only wine Sebastian drank with such attention, and then only when his company demanded it, but he savored her tea. He was finishing his second cup when she came in, disheveled and apologizing.

“I’m so sorry for keeping you waiting, Prince Sebastian. Your note was delivered with my breakfast, which I took later than is my custom. I didn’t want to send a reply and miss your departure, so I intended to ask you to wait once you got here, but this is taking longer than anticipated.”

“It’s quite all right, my lady. I can call upon you another time if this is inconvenient,” he offered, hoping that she’d turn him down. He wanted to stay, even if it meant giving up on his idea of a tour and spending more time with her in her library. A library was a grand place to start stealing kisses.

“No, I do want to go out with you. I will, since a tour would be most educational. But I have a deadline. My notes aren’t quite finished and its imperative they go out today,” she said, appealing to him with a look of panic. “Last night I didn’t sleep well and was late this morning, so I should have been up working much earlier. It’s my own fault.”

“I would like to take you and your lovely mother out for a tour, but I know better than to disturb a bee making honey,” he said, trying for a levity that was lost on Lady Melissa.

“I’m a tiger,” she muttered to herself, and Sebastian had to laugh. She was a kitten if he’d ever seen one, but he wouldn’t tell her he thought so.

“A tiger?” he asked, not waiting for an answer, “You have a pencil stuck in your hair, Tiger.” He was about to ask her where she’d even gotten a pencil and then realized that it must be hers; she would use them for doing figures instead of a quill and ink. It was quicker to scratch out pencil marks than it was with ink, though messier. He deplored them, but he’d never been a student of the sciences and ink worked better for his correspondence, which was about the only thing he ever wrote down.

“It’s there for safekeeping. I was making notes. I should still be making notes.”

She looked as though she’d been editing something, seeing her properly as the pieces of context slid into place. Her clothes were old, and while serviceable, these were skirts meant to only be seen in the house, and her hair was pinned back but coming loose and curling in a becoming way around her face, with said face was free of powder. The cuffs of her blouse were smudged with filth, no doubt from writing her notes in pencil, and Melissa looked pleased with herself. The way she looked was comfortably busy, as opposed to his own pristine boredom. The most interesting thing he’d done today was drink her tea blend.

There was an uncomfortable second where he realized that he was bored a great deal of the time. Mostly bored was his default state, and he’d settled into it with aplomb, taking it as his lot in life. He smiled at her, trying to push the thoughts out of his mind.

“Would you like me to leave and we can try again tomorrow?” he asked, but it wasn’t Melissa that answered him.

“Your Highness, please stay,” Lady Amell said as she entered the room. She had obviously planned to go on their tour, for she was dressed in her walking clothes. “I must apologize for keeping you waiting, I had other guests and couldn’t see them out at once, though my daughter has no reason to have been so rude.”

“Mother, you know I had to finish the notes for the next lecture. I was tardy getting a start this morning and got to His Highness’s missive late, and that is my fault. Had I known to anticipate him, I would have asked Isabela to stay.”

“Has she gone running off again? Maker knows she should simply sail away and get it out of her system before she causes problems like in Kirkwall,” Lady Leandra started in, talking more to herself than to either of them. Lady Melissa rolled her eyes.

“What are you working on, Lady Melissa?” he asked, interrupting smoothly what he was sure was about to become a harangue by her mother on the deficiencies of her friend. He smiled blandly at her, but Lady Melissa gave him a grateful grin.

“My next guest is a alchemical master from the Anderfels. It’s not precisely my field of study, but it is interesting and useful to the public. He is quite verbose, however, and his notes required a heavy hand during editing. Normally, I would wait until his arrival and practice presenting with him, but this scholar is on a very limited schedule. I’ve only agreed to host him because his research is very new and groundbreaking in his field,” she explained, wringing her hands together as she did. This had her truly worried, and it was in his nature to put people at ease.

“Tiger, let me take your mother out for the tour, and the three of us can meet for a late lunch, if the Lady Amell doesn’t object,” he said graciously. “It will give you some time, and I’ll still owe you a private tour.”

“If that meets your approval, Mother, I can accept the compromise,” she said, nodding at her mother. Leandra hadn’t missed his promise of a private tour, but her smile was genuine as she answered.

“It does. Thank you for being so gracious, Prince Sebastian. Melissa, do not be late. I’ll send the carriage back for you.”

“You know I’m never late, Mother. I’m not Carver or Bethany. My edits are nearly done now, so a few hours should be more than sufficient for me to get them sent out and then change into something suitable. Thank you again, Your Highness,” she said and Sebastian got the distinct impression she was thanking him for taking her mother off her of her hands for the remainder of this morning so she could finish her work.

“We will see you at luncheon,” he said, giving her a small bow. Sebastian didn’t stare as she left the room, because her mother was right there, but he glanced at her retreating form as her swish of plain skirts fled the room. Though slender, she had shapely hips and a backside that filled out her drab skirts well enough to make his mind wander into places best left unexplored with her mother nearby.

With all the grace he could muster, he held out his arm to Lady Amell. “Shall we?” he asked, and Leandra accepted his arm with a cool grin.

#

They took his carriage from the foreign part of the upper city, riding past the houses of displaced Nevarran nobles and several branches of Orlesian nobility, as told by the stylized grandeur of their houses. The only Fereldan in the area was obvious, he was a former Bann that had married a native, moving here after leaving his bannorn to his eldest daughter. Their house was no less grand, and fashioned with wooden mabari statues outside, no doubt carried with them from Ferelden.

“Your husband, the late Lord Amell was Fereldan, was he not?” Sebastian asked.

“He was, Maker rest his soul. My children were all born there, but circumstances after his death brought us back to Kirkwall,” Lady Amell said. He had a vague stirring of recollection, that she had a brother that had usurped her title in her absence, but he couldn’t remember the details of it. It was probably best not to mention it.

“I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of meeting your other children.”

“They aren’t here with us. They declined to come with Melissa and I, but are back in Kirkwall. They are twins, Bethany and Carver. Bethany is newlywed to a magistrate in Kirkwall, and Carver is a bookbinder and artist. They all chose to stay at home for this adventure. I daresay they’re glad the house isn’t quite so full these days.”

“I haven’t been to Kirkwall in sometime, but I remember that your family had a house in Hightown.”

“You have a prodigious memory, Your Highness. Our family home is right on the Viscount’s Square. My brother has a daughter, Charade, who also resides with us, though Lord Gamlen keeps his own home in a different part of the city. Charade’s mother passed away not long ago, and well, family is family.”

“That does make for a full house.”

“Melissa was most upset to have to combine her work space and her library at home. The space to work here is good for her mind.”

Before he could think of a reply to that, they’d reach their destination. The center of the market square was made for strolling, and there was no better place to start. The carriage was forbidden from going into the market square itself, otherwise it would have been congested and unnavigable, so they alighted from the conveyance to walk, arm in arm. It was a pleasant day, sunshine unfiltered in a blue sky, and warm enough that pausing in their walk didn’t cause them to catch a chill. Starkhaven was beautiful on this particular morning, shown to its best advantage in the glittering daylight, but they worked hard to make it that way. The splendid avenues and squares were planned, cultivated and maintained by precise design to be the jewel of the Free Marches. He was always proud of that work, though he himself had no hand in it. It would have been a crime not to appreciate the beauty and efficiency of the public spaces. He’d have to remember to mention it to his father, as he found it especially pleasing today.

Lady Amell hadn’t been to Starkhaven in many years, so Sebastian’s tour was more like a collaborative event. She told him bits of history from her last visit, and he filled in some of the blanks to bring her knowledge to the present day. It was diverting, if not especially scintillating, and they passed the time comfortably enough. There were quite a few stops as they walked, not just to point out landmarks and make conversation, but also to be greeted by a good deal of people. Not many knew what to make of him with Lady Amell on his arm, and more than a few old acquaintance stopped to speak to her when he was sure they wouldn’t have before seeing them together. It mattered not much to either of them, they never let the conversations go on for very long, because Sebastian was having a decent time escorting her around.

He would have preferred Lady Melissa be there, of course. Her mother was no substitute for the pleasure of her presence, but he was content to meet her later. It would have been disappointing to be completely turned away this morning, so the compromise suited him. Plus, it was always a good idea to get to know in the good graces of her family. Later, when it became necessary to extricate himself, any earlier gentlemanly actions, like this one, would be to his credit. Lady Amell was amiable and delicate in her questioning of him, peppering in her queries lightly as they made their slow tour of the city center. First there were the polite questions, the one asking after his family, and about his friends. Then she asked about his hobbies, and he was honest and told her about his fencing, the only thing he could rightly claim as a pastime of honest pursuit. Sebastian was waiting for her to ask the real question on her mind, and was impressed that she held out for over an hour before making the query.

“What is it that you want with my Melissa, Prince Sebastian? I do not think it is marriage, though I would like to hope it is,” she said. So this is where her daughter got her bluntness, he thought, but then amended it based on his own evidence, thinking that it was perhaps the other way round. Melissa preferred honesty and Leandra grew up with noble dissimulation, so her mother became accustomed to candor when it came to matters involving her eldest.

“She is a genius,” he answered truthfully, though he was purposefully oblique in offering that answer.

“Yes, I am aware. We’ve always been very proud of her achievements.”

“Many would not be. Her intellect would not always be considered an asset, especially when not applied to the Orlesian game,” he said, stalling for time.

“We are not Orlesian, and the Great Game doesn’t interest my daughter anymore than academics interest you, Your Highness.” That was a sharp volley aimed at him, but he took it in stride as he answered her. His sangfroid under questioning seemed to discomfit her, which was curious. If she’d already had heard tales of him, she should know that his temper was forged in the face of fires hotter than this tepid questioning.

“While I am interested in academia as an institution of noble pursuit, I can see what an asset it would be the Starkhaven, I also would be honest with you; I believe in the cause of her lectures and I know how important it is to her career for them to be a success. It had come to mind that she and I could forge a mutually beneficial relationship. I would champion her cause to my parents, and in turn, they might grant me more liberties, once I am successful. But as you pointed out, I am not a scholar by any means, and I require education to effectively make her case,” he said, summing up the plan he’d barely formed to make his interest seem legitimate. It did not fool Leandra, though the plan itself had worth. He would have to give it more thought later, perhaps after running it by Meckel and Bertie.

“Lady Melissa does champion a great cause as you say, but it wasn’t her education that caught your eye at first. Come now, Your Highness.”

“Lady Melissa is enchantingly beautiful. It would be ridiculous not to admit what was is known to anyone upon their first glance at her. But I see my reputation precedes me, though I hope you’ve decided to judge me more on what you find for yourself through our acquaintance. Can you trust that your daughter is an adult, as am I, and that I am neither scoundrel nor bully? A relationship need only her request for it to remain as only friends between us,” Sebastian answered.

His answer apparently wasn’t precisely palatable for Leandra, but she could also provide no rebuttal other than a displeased noise. Sebastian kept his smile to himself, but he could figure out the source of her dismay. Sebastian was good at reading people, and he liked to think he knew a little of Lady Melissa after spending time with her. Leandra he was starting to know as well, but it didn’t take any skill to know that no answer would be enough for her. If he asked for marriage, his reputation would make his suit suspect, and if he denied plans for a seduction, he would be a liar and scoundrel. Leandra may not like it, but his truth was the best he could offer, and he now knew Melissa well enough to know she’d choose him as much as he’d chosen her. Her daughter, genius and scholar, was headstrong and determined, would make her own decisions.

That thought warmed him as they continued their tour, with Leandra just a touch more frosty than she’d been with him before. He expected the reaction, but it was his hope that she would soften again towards him as the sting of his honesty went away. Her chilly demeanor warmed when they went to meet Lady Melissa, who was dressed properly and perfectly punctual for their meal. For her part, Lady Melissa’s work was finished and she’d been aided by the quiet in the house. He didn’t miss her grateful smile as she summarized her morning after they ordered, nor the subtle brush her foot against his under the table. It happened just often enough that he was sure that statisticians would figure that it couldn’t have been an accident.


	4. Chapter 4

Sebastian was almost looking forward to the second lecture when it came around. Well, he was looking forward to spending time with Lady Melissa, because he found himself wanting to be around her more often than not these days. She was interesting and engaging, and as he’d told Leandra, he had an interest in promoting her work, once he understood it. He wanted her lectures to be successful, not just because of his interest in her, but for her. This was her dream. He may not have any of his own, but he could see how much it meant to her.  
  
Lady Melissa was a gifted and patient teacher. Perhaps that was the miracle of it all, that is she had simply been a governess or tutor, she might not have been able to showcase her curiosity and excellence. Lady Melissa was a marvel, and she was meant for this calling. It would have been a tragedy to have a mind like hers forced into smuggling or mercenary work, though he was sure she would have excelled there as well. But as it was, she was here with him and though her days were busy leading up to her second presentation, she found time to entertain him.  
  
“You’re late, Prince Sebastian,” she said, not looking up at him as he stood in the doorway to her library. It was her library, he’d been in there enough times now to know that she’d brought or bought most of the books.  
  
“My apologies, Tiger. I hadn’t realized you’d start without me.”  
  
“Prince Sebastian, _you_ were late. It wasn’t starting without, it was starting despite my lack of assistance. You could make yourself useful by handing me the set of screwdrivers, the gold ones, to your left on that shelf,” she said, still not looking up at him. He saw her depress the lever that called for tea, and smiled as he filled her request.  
  
“Here you go,” he said, putting them down on an empty spot on her desk. Eventually, she looked up at him, then pushed up her goggles. She blinked more than once and then, finally, smiled at him. Maker, she had a lovely smile. He felt a little dizzy just from the sight of her smiling up at him. He hadn’t ever thought goggles to be appealing before, but they worked for her.  
  
“Are you still nervous about tomorrow evening?” he asked as he sat down, and dismayed to see her smile vanish as he asked. She was tense; he shouldn’t have brought it up, but it would be rude not to, since the second lecture she’d been preparing for so long was close at hand.  
  
“Extremely. He’s late. There must be something going around today, since you weren’t here on time either,” she remarked, making him laugh, as he sobered, she went on. “He was supposed to be at his inn this morning, and I haven’t gotten word that he’s arrived yet. This is to get my mind off of all the things that could go wrong,” she said, motioning at her desk.  
  
Lady Melissa had enlisted his help once she realized he was going to continue to visit her. She was building an orrery, which she’d explained was a spinning model of the heavens. Most were quite simple, but hers was elaborate and accurate. She used her mathematical skill to make it as accurate as possible, using her own research and that of others to chart the skies, putting her mechanical skills to the test as she made every part herself. All the parts, except for the ones he made under her guidance. Sometimes he helped, following her detailed specifications, and provided her with actual assistance.  
  
Sebastian was glancing at her work before him, so he didn’t immediately notice her when she got up. It was only once she’d turned her back on him and was rooting through a nearby box that Sebastian realized she was wearing trousers, no, armor. Lady Melissa was wearing leather armor, sturdy and snug. Now that he’d seen her bending over in leathers, he wouldn’t be able to die happy until he’d seen her bending over without them.  
  
“Were you planning to go hunt me down? I wasn’t that late, Tiger,” he muttered, watching her unabashedly as she searched for whatever it was she needed. He hoped she never found it.  
  
As Lady Melissa straightened back up she resumed the conversation. “I thought that I might go ride out and make sure nothing has gone amiss, but Mother has asked me to wait until later in the day.”  
  
“I could go with you,” he said quickly, and then realized giving her the chance to object would mean he wouldn’t get to go. “That is, I insist that I do. You can’t go alone or just with Isabela. I can make arrangements and get my bow. I can watch your back.”  
  
“If it comes to that, I won’t say no. If the night comes on with no word, we must do what we can. I would hate to think I caused the death of a rising academic by inviting him to venture across Thedas for a lecture.”  
  
“Don’t worry so much, Tiger. If it sets you at ease, I can have some off-duty guards go now and search, as a favor to me. My parents have shown an interest in your work, so it won’t be hard to get volunteers, if you don’t want to wait until night,” he said. He should have offered the guards first, but he hadn’t been thinking straight. Watching a beautiful woman bend over in leather armor made his brain all fuzzy.  
  
“Oh yes, please! Thank you Sebastian! I mean, you have my thanks, Your Highness,” she said, looking momentarily wary after she realized her mistake. He shook his head at her, forgiving the lapse wordlessly, and pleased that it had occurred. She must call him just Sebastian in her head, otherwise it wouldn’t have slipped out.  
  
“I’ll go now and send word to the guards. Don’t invent anything while I’m gone,” he said, and walked back out the library the way he’d come. He knew about Weissman’s work with greater familiarity than he would have liked, and how he was traveling. Lady Melissa had arranged it down to the last detail, as much as she could from Starkhaven. It was an easy enough thing to send someone back to the palace with his orders. When he returned, his message entrusted to one of the men that had come to the house with him, there was tea waiting for him.  
  
“My guard just sent word back to the barracks, Lady Melissa. Your scholar is as good as found,” he said, and sat down to a cup of tea. He didn’t tell her that he’d made it an order, that they had to find and escort this man to his inn or suffer Sebastian’s extreme displeasure.  
  
“I’m almost sorry we didn’t just go ourselves, though I know your guards are better suited to the task. It’s just that I could use a trip outside the city center,” she confessed before taking a drink of her own tea. “It’s been a busy few days, and I feel like I haven’t even had a chance to walk about the garden most of the time. But that’s to be expected. I didn’t start this series so I could come to Starkhaven to see the sights.”  
  
“My parents are quite interested in your lectures, and the possibility of more public education. I made a case for them to send someone to attend, if they would not come themselves. There might be someone at your third lecture in the series, if I can manage it. There is some resistance to such lectures historically, since we had that ill-advised series a few years ago. The ones led by the Enchanter Theodorus, who wanted to have fireside talks with everyone. The Ted Talks were just an excuse for him to seduce nobles and then fleece them.”  
  
“Is that what happened?” she asked, incredulous. Her shock dissolved into giggles quickly. “I’d heard there were some sort of scandal, but Maker’s breath!”  
  
It was when he joined into her laughter that he realized just how much he wanted to kiss her. Her giggles and smiles took the weight of worry from her, and she was as beautiful and carefree as he’d ever seen her. The tea tray sat between them, still mostly full with refreshment and another tea blend of her own making, her desk covered in papers, dust and parts. The change in his intent fired the air, making her laughter softer before it slowed and stopped and she met his gaze over the tray. They didn’t say anything else, not with words. Sebastian wasn’t sure what to do or how to play this role; he wasn’t shy by any stretch of the imagination, but this was something different, waters he hadn’t navigated before.  
  
Lady Melissa was watching him, quiet, waiting. She might have been sussing him out for all that the tables had been turned. It was too loaded and while it wasn’t strictly uncomfortable, he had to guide them back to someplace he knew. Otherwise, he might just say the wrong thing and end their flirtation forever, and that was the last thing he wanted. He cleared his throat, trying to recompose himself.  
  
“Ahem. So tell me about this tea blend, Tiger. It tastes like one of yours. And hand me whatever you want me to work on today. I have to make up for being late,” he said in an easy tone. It sounded almost casual, everyday, but his heart was beating too quickly.  
  
Luckily, she hadn’t heard it. All she did was get up again and smile as she topped off his cup of tea. He watched her every movement as she did, the graceful flex of her fingers, the economy with which she stood and did her duty as hostess and he almost leaned over and kissed her right then. He took a scalding sip of tea to hide his awkwardness and promptly learned it was too hot to drink still. The sharp pain of it brought tiny pricks of tears to his eyes and helped clear his head.  
  
“Do you like this one?” She paused for a breath, not long enough for him to answer asking, “How does it feel on your tongue?” and her voice was too low and sultry to be inquiring about the tea. “It should be sweet and not turn bitter at the finish. Not if the two parts are blended in harmony.”  
  
“It’s perfect.”  
  
“Nothing’s perfect, Prince Sebastian.”  
  
“I think we’ll have to agree to disagree there.”  
  
“How are you with a hand drill? I have some very small holes to make. Is your eyesight good?” she asked.  
  
“It’s perfect,” he repeated again, meeting her eyes. She grinned back at him.  
  
“I hope so,” she answered. He wasn’t sure if she felt the same thing he did, but he knew a challenge when he heard one.  
  
He’d make sure everything he did was flawless. He had a feeling there were a lot of kisses riding on the perfection of his outcome, and he couldn’t risk missing his chance at them.

#

Melissa tried to resist the urge to look up at the ceiling in the library lecture hall and start praying to the Maker. If she could barely understand Weissman and she spoke Ander, she doubted most of this assembled crowd could make heads or tails of what he was saying. More the pity, he had the Ander habit of being emphatic to the point where the whole front row, including herself, jumped when he made several points. His voice was too loud and then too soft, making him hard to hear on top of being hard to understand. Mother was frowning at him openly, even as he turned his back to pick up his chalk to make another drawing on the slate provided to them for the lecture.

He was handsome, she had to say that for him, but that was probably the only thing keeping people in the room with the incomprehensible man. He had the rangy strength of a man that grew up doing labor before becoming a scholar, and his face had scarification, but it was old, probably from childhood. If he were easier to understand, the scholar would be just what she needed for this lecture series, but he was causing confusion instead of awe. Her speaker wasn’t practiced enough, and no matter how brilliant he was, the audience wasn’t receptive. Weissman was covered in chalk dust from head to foot, and no drawing had made his talk easier to follow. If she hadn’t read and edited the notes, she’d probably be completely lost as well.

This was a disaster, and tonight she’d be mourning the death of her career.

A glance around Mother showed her that Sebastian was leaning forward, looking concerned as he tried to decipher what Weissman was now saying, his back to the audience as he grumbled and wrote on the slate. Sebastian had once again brought people to her lectures, and she felt like she was letting all of them down. The friend next to Sebastian was dozing with the look of a man practiced at sleeping in classroom settings. She couldn’t hold in the tiny moan that escaped under her breath. Only Isabela seemed to hear it, and she grabbed Melissa’s hand and squeezed it quickly.

When Weissman moved back to explain his latest handiwork, Melissa breathed a sigh of relief. This was near the end of his notes, which meant it was the end of the lecture after this explanation. Unfortunately, that meant he got to lecture at to the bewildered and bored crowd for another ten minutes before she stood up. He was taking a break in his lecturing to gear up for a new thread, and she had to stop that from happening.

“Let’s all thank Scholar Weissman for that enlightening lecture,” she said, starting out the applause. It was scanty at first, but grew into a healthy ovation when the crowd realized she was stopping the lecture. There was so much relief in the room, it felt like the end of a mandatory Chantry service.

Melissa watched helplessly as the rows of bored spectators positively sprinted for the door. Weissman was back in form now, taking the two people who had come down to speak personally with him as confirmation of his greatness. She should go over to him, thank him for coming and give him her thoughts on his lecture but she couldn’t, not yet. The room was quickly emptying around her, the food she’d gotten for refreshment completely gone, since people had used it to keep themselves awake during the lecture.

Mother gave her a stiff smile, and shook her head. “I might have been lost during that one, darling, but he certainly sounds like he knows his subject. I’ll thank him and head home. Come along when you’re ready,” she said gently.

“That was a stinker,” Bela said, not mincing words when she came over. “I’m so sorry, Hawke.”

“I know, I know. I’ve probably ruined my own career by trying to be too clever. He’s so lovely on paper, and he’s in demand. I didn’t have time to practice with him, he was so late getting into Starkhaven. Last night the guards escorted him into the city well after nightfall, and only sent me word because Prince Sebastian insisted. I didn’t get to meet him until this morning.”

“Heads up, here he comes,” Isabela whispered and they both turned as one with fake smiles pasted on their faces. If Weissman noticed, he didn’t let on that it bothered him.

“Thank you so much, Lady Melissa. It was a pleasure to see such a crowd,” he began, and it was hard to dislike him, earnest as he was. She switched to Ander so she could understand him better. In his native tongue his voice was still hard to understand, but not half so much as it was when he tried to speak the common language. Perhaps that was why his work required such editing on her part.

They conversed genially for a few minutes, just the two of them, and she helped him round up his things so he could leave. He did spend some time asking her opinion on other matters related to his work, but as she had no real expertise of alchemical science outside of how it intersected with her own research, they quickly exhausted the topic. Melissa shook his hand and then let him leave the lecture, explaining that she would need to supervise cleanup. Weissman was on his way to another city, so she wouldn’t need to host or escort him around town. With a promise to write, he was gone, and Melissa slumped against the lectern as the cleaners removed all detritus from the room.

When she looked up, Sebastian, the two men that had been sitting with him, and Isabela were the only people left in the room. It was a sharp contrast to the last lecture, when a line of people had been waiting to speak with her and the Comte. She wanted to cry.

“I didn’t know his accent was so prominent,” she whispered. It was a paltry explanation, but it was all she could say. “I didn’t want to be mean to him. He did this for free. I just,” she stopped, unable to know how to go on. Isabela slipped an arm around her and gave her a one armed hug.

“Tiger, he’s an expert, that much was clear. His career will recover and so will yours. He’ll publish that paper he was going on about and thank you, and everyone will see you were just ahead of your time,” Sebastian said. Isabela let her go and Melissa nodded up at him. She was so forlorn, she couldn’t think of anything else to say. She hoped Sebastian was right, she so fervently needed this to be seen as a stroke of brilliance in hindsight, not the disaster it felt like.

“Who are your friends?” Bela asked.

“This is Meckel and Bertie,” he said, pointing to them each in turn. “They know nothing of science and I’m not sure Meckel can even read, but they came along anyway,” Sebastian said.

His friends, Meckel a blond haired man that looked like he worked out disagreements exclusively in the pugilistic ring, gave Isabela a wide grin. On his other side, Bertie was dark-haired and handsome, but slighter and without the unmistakable look of someone that fought. He had more a lean runner’s build, but even giving him credit for that much sport would be a stretch, Melissa concluded silently. She made them each a polite greeting and thanked them for coming to the lecture.

“It was no problem,” Meckel lied, and Isabela laughed.

“I’m sure whatever His Highness offered to get you here was incentive enough,” Isabela said darkly.

“I didn’t offer a thing; you did. I told them you would be here. They have a bet going to see who can charm Isabela the quickest,” Prince Sebastian said, making Melissa start and Isabela roar with laughter.

“Aren’t they precious?” Bela cooed, and Melissa knew then that neither of them would ever sleep with Isabela.

“I can’t believe you told her,” the blond one, Meckel, said.

“Come now, it’s not sporting if you don’t let her know about the bet. A lady deserves to know when she’s being fought over,” Sebastian said, his voice easy but she’d be a fool not to hear his reproof. He didn’t like the bet, so it seemed, and had been honest about it as a way to stop it.

She shouldn’t like that as much as she did. Melissa wanted to go back to the house, hide, maybe sleep until next week and then come out for air wearing a large hat so no one could see her face. Those dresses, the ones with so much bustle that people had to stand several feet away, why did those ever go out of fashion? She’d have to see about a resurgence. But she couldn’t hide, she knew that logically. It would serve no purpose but to confirm that she’d made a misstep. She sighed. Mother wasn’t really expecting her to come straight home and she had no desire to meander over a tepid dinner in bed while reliving the lecture in her head.

“Someone take me out and pour whisky in me until I’m able to laugh again,” she whispered, and Sebastian took her arm.

“Are you sure about that?” he asked softly, looking down at her in concern.

“If you say it wasn’t that bad, I will never let you back into my house again because I don’t bother with such atrocious liars,” she said scathingly. Sebastian laughed, the sound of it warm and unexpectedly heartening, taking some of the edge off her disappointment. He was quickly becoming the best part of a dismal night.

“What do you say, gentlemen? Let’s take the ladies someplace where they can laugh again,” he said.

“I’ve got no problem laughing, or stabbing,” Isabela said, giving Sebastian’s friends a glare. Sebastian chuckled once more, but Melissa rested her head tiredly on his arm, making him look down at her in concern.

“I can feel that look, Your Highness. If you make me ask again, I’m going to just leave and go find the nearest place that will serve me until I can’t see straight.”

“The nearest place is a block away and I'm fairly certain they only serve ale. Let’s see if we can’t find you something to erase your mind a little quicker than that. Aye lads, where’s the best party tonight?”

Meckel responded with a place she’d never heard of, or maybe it was the name of someone she hadn’t yet met that was hosting a party, but Melissa didn’t care to know. All that mattered was that she needed to get out of here. Isabela looked pleased as she took Sebastian’s other arm, much to the dismay of both Meckel and Bertie. They all walked out of the library, into a night that was far too young and bright to have held such disappointment already, so she could forget about the past three hours of her life, Maker willing.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning was far too sunny and came far too soon. Sebastian woke up in his own bed, but still fully dressed and feeling awful. Every move of his head hurt and set the world spinning. He realized he’d been awakened on purpose when another voice started speaking from someplace in his room. There was no way he was going to be able to turn his head to see them so he just lay there, waiting to die.

How much had they drank last night? He should know not to drink with Fereldans, but damn it she was so tiny. How could she drink like that?

“Your Highness, the Lady Melissa has assured me it’s most urgent for her to see you, even in your current state. She says she can help,” said the distorted voice in his room.

“Is Melissa?” he asked, slurring as he tried to make his mouth work. “Yesh. Bring her.”

He was going to close his eyes, just to rest them. It wasn’t time to be up yet anyway. She wasn’t here. What happened to Bertie and Meckel? Usually one or both of them ended up here if they drank to the point where he couldn’t clearly remember most of the night, but he was alone in his room. He didn’t remember much of the two of them last night, not as they tried to outdrink Isabela. Isabela drank a good deal too, probably more than all of them, but it seemed like neither she nor Melissa got drunk, at least not as drunk as they did.

“Hi. I’m so sorry, Prince Sebastian. You should drink this,” Melissa was saying in his dreams. He felt her hands helping him up in bed, smelled the sweet scent of flowers that he always associated with her and snuggled closer. Her breasts were lovely and soft under his head, though they’d be nicer if she abandoned the underclothes that restrained them. They weren’t generous because she wasn’t a big woman, but they were pleasant and high whenever he admired them from a distance. Right now they felt perfect, he could sleep in their valley quite comfortably for some time. When he felt her breath catch in her chest, he remembered that this wasn’t a dream, and he had to try, hard as it might be, to sit up and not further embarrass himself.

“You’re going to have to bathe if you want to take such liberties, Your Highness. Your clothes stink like old liquor and sin, and your hair has seen better days and nights, I hope. Drink this.”

“What is it?” he croaked.

“Something to help. I made it. Will you trust me?”

He drank it down in one, shuddered, and then sat there for a few minutes while it settled into him. It was icy cold, like lyrium but lacked that horrible taste and smell. It tasted like watered fruit juice, although he was sure there was more to it than that. Melissa watched him nervously, retreating to a chair in a corner of his room. He blinked at her in the shuttered darkness of his room. The drink hadn’t come back up, and he was starting to come to himself once more. This was quicker than he’d ever recovered from drink before.

“Do you have another?” he asked, and this time his voice was more like his own. Melissa gave him a wide, and relieved smile.

“Here, take this one with a headache powder. I brought a packet.”

“This would be the perfect way to kill me,” he mused.

“Yes, after telling every second servant on the way to your bedroom my name and what was in my bag, I could certainly get away with it,” she said, snorting. “Take this or suffer, Prince Sebastian.”

After the second batch of whatever the hell she’d made for him, he went to wash up and change. The door to his inner chambers had been closed by necessity of not letting any more light in while he was completely hungover, but when she absented herself to give him privacy she let in fresh air laced with her scent. Peonies. He recognized it now. Peonies mixed with something else woodsy, maybe moss? He couldn’t tell. He thought about it as he applied the powder to his toothbrush and changed into fresh clothes. It wasn’t a bath, but it would do for now. By the time he found her sitting in the receiving room closest to his private quarters, he felt mostly normal. It wasn’t quite a miracle, but it was damn close enough that he was going to write the Chantry and have them offer her sainthood.

He broke his fast with her, though it was well onto afternoon. Melissa looked demure and sweet after their night out before, wearing a blue silk gown trimmed in expensive lace and a bonnet to match. The hat was more fashionable than he’d expected from her, since she’d admitted she was drawn to sensible dress as opposed to trends, but he suspected the guiding hand of Captain Isabela. Sebastian eyed Lady Melissa over his breakfast as she shot disdainful looks at the teapot. After tasting her teas, he didn’t much care for it either. He still couldn’t eat much, but with a little toast on his stomach he more or less felt like himself.

“Are you better today?” he asked.

“Much, thank you, but I’m afraid Isabela is feeling a bit under the weather from last night,” Melissa admitted.

“You haven’t whipped her up a cure?” he asked.

“She doesn’t take to them, but she did suggest that you might, so here I am. In exchange, Bela requested I bring her one of your bottles of wine and a filthy novel to pass the day.”

Sebastian looked at her, and then started to laugh. He was shaking his head and chuckling, but he really admired her lack of artifice in such matters. Getting up from their table, he beckoned to her, leading her away from the terrible tea and through the still hallways of Vael Castle to the library. It was mostly for show, but there was a section past the economic treatises, that had been cultivated since before his birth. While his brothers had favored different sections, Graham the aforementioned economics and Orion had sought out adventure tales as a younger man, Sebastian had always been always been interested in the more scintillating literature.

There was some past priggish Vael ancestor that had endeavored to have the entertaining and erotic removed from the library, so some volumes had been hidden and scattered about the castle. It had been a very diverting scavenger hunt for him as a teenager after finding an entry in the diary of a relation proclaiming that the writer had ‘protected the literature’. Finding everything listed in the diary had taken him months, especially since he had to stop and read them all as he found them. Once he was older, he’d done his part to update the library with more recent literary contributions and a few more esoteric volumes to his own tastes.

He rather had a fondness for people engaged in their own battle of wits and cleverness that ended in disrobing. There was no shame in admitting he had a type. Just as he thought about it, Melissa looked over at him and gave him a smirk, confirming the direction of his thoughts. Oh yes, he certainly had a type, he realized as he shot his best roguish grin back at her. She must have seen something she recognized on his shelves, but he would bet he could surprise her yet.

“I’ve read them all, so you’re welcome to them. If you borrow one of my favorites, please bring it back. Winter can be quite depressing here without them. The wine, I can arrange to have brought up once we find some books to her taste and some discreet wrapping.”

“Nothing Antivan,” Melissa directed, and so Sebastian bypassed most of the shelf he’d been heading towards. “Not the wine or the stories, sadly.”

“Whyever not?”

“Her late husband was Antivan. Their marriage was almost as acrimonious as their separation, but not quite.”

“He’s dead now, since you said late. Did she kill him?” he asked.

In answer, she didn’t say anything, but turned pointedly away from his gaze. He saw her arch smile as tilted her head to the side as she read the titles on the shelf. That was all the confirmation that he needed. If the lady had no love for Antiva, even the most florid descriptions of a milk sandwich wouldn’t entice. He wondered if he might be able to interest Melissa in those particular volumes instead.

“These are some very intriguing tales out of Tevinter,” he said, handing her two books. “I think they’re responsible for much of my upbringing. They certainly influenced me more than my parents would have liked. Shall I have these two wrapped for her?”

“Better make it three. We read fast by necessity; we’re friends with Varric Tethras.”

“The dwarven author? I’ve met him a time or two. I hadn’t realized you were acquainted.”

“Kirkwall is full of interesting people, Prince Sebastian. I’m not one of them, but I’m lucky enough to meet many of them as they pass through. Some even stay.”

He didn’t address the deprecating comment about herself, but it didn’t pass unnoticed by him either. Sebastian asked, “Would you like to read any of these fine pieces of literature?”

“Are you going to offer a recommendation?” she asked archly.

“I’d rather show you what I learned from them,” he said, making her laugh.

“I’ll read your favorite, if you can bear to part with the sticky pages, when I have the time. I should have some as I try to plan the third lecture. There’s a balance to the timing; I need to keep my audience and have time to prepare. Perhaps I rushed the second one. Had I known more about Weissman,” she mused, starting off on the trail of thoughts that led them out drinking the night before. He cut her off before she could delve further into melancholy.

“We should do an exchange. Give me the ones you brought with you for the loan of my books,” Sebastian said. He put the books down a nearby table and gave her a sidelong look. She gave him an imperious one back, and it hid nothing.

“What makes you think I packed anything other than what was needed for my research?”

“Does that look work on anyone that actually knows you?”

“It worked on your friends last night when they were trying to entice Isabela into taking both of them home,” she said sweetly, and Sebastian laughed. The sound of it was loud to his ears, shocked and bright, but he was glad for it.

‘They didn’t, did they?” he asked, but he knew they had. The night before came back to him in broken shards of a mirror, pieces he could never reassemble into a whole but could get a glimpse. He remembered Melissa singing, of her pushing him away, laughing as he tried to steal a kiss, and of Isabela’s determined ignoring of both Meckel and Bertie.

“Oh yes. They were extremely unsuccessful,” she told him.

“What about me? I remembered trying to kiss you but I have to admit, if I have had the pleasure I don’t remember it. I humbly request another chance, my lady.”

“We didn’t kiss,” she said softly. “We shouldn’t.” There was something about the way she said it, some regret that made him eager to show her just why they should share many, many kisses.

He caught her in his arms in an instant, and he whispered his next question. “Would it be so bad if I kissed you, Tiger?” She bit her bottom lip but didn’t respond. He could feel the swift beat of her heart against his chest, bird-like in its rhythm, but she wasn’t frightened. She was leaning into his embrace, her arms wrapped just as tightly around him as his were on her. That was anticipating making her heart skitter under her breast, quickening her breathing, and he felt her hold her breath as he leaned down, careful of her hat. He kissed her neck, soft at first and she moaned, tipping her head to give him more to kiss. Melissa rubbed herself against him, making him come to full attention as she played like a kitten against his chest. His Tiger; so docile and sweet in his arms as the sunlight shone through the window and glinted off her obsidian hair. Sebastian leaned into her, touching her, filling all of his senses with Melissa. Her dark eyes were at half-mast, and her hands run across his back and sides, and over his shoulders, drawing him closer to her. A hand combed through his hair, a finger caressing the rounded shell of his ear with a gentle touch that electrified his skin. Melissa. She was everywhere, and he couldn’t get enough of her. He was kissing her jaw, nibbling at her ear and had just pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth when she started to push him away.

“Come get your books later this week, when we have a chance to work on the orrery,” she said. Her voice shook, but he let her step out of his arms. “If I don’t have anything you haven’t read, perhaps you’ll take a book of scholarship instead? I have something I think will suit you.”

“Of course, Lady Melissa,” he muttered agreeably. “Until later.” Sebastian rang for someone to wrap the tomes for her, gave her a bottle of wine with her deepest regards for Isabela, and then he went back to his room to bathe. He couldn’t think straight until he was in his own bath and trying to recall every moment of her visit in his mind. Sebastian had a cockstand to rival the flagpole outside the castle, and he twice found relief thinking of Melissa. Even he, with all of his experience and practice, had no idea what the hell happened between them in the library, and he’d initiated it. That should scare him, but all he wanted was more of it as soon as possible.

#

Melissa lay back on her pillows, shamefully still lingering in bed even thought it was well after the time when she should have gotten up. She would guess that was barely morning, if it hadn’t already passed noon, but her shutters were closed and she had no clock in the room. The ticking drove her mad when she was trying to enjoy the peacefulness of the night, so she had no idea what time it was as she lazed about. There was a simple explanation for her lethargy, and it had everything to do with the books that Sebastian had lent her. As intimate as she was with her own body, she didn’t normally spent so much time enjoying it, but the books had, ahem, inspired her.

It had nothing to do with Sebastian’s kisses, and how she could feel the memory of them against her skin. She certainly wasn’t thinking about how much she wanted to feel them again, all over her. There was definitely no thought in her mind about how hard he’d gotten while she was in his arms, and how much she could enjoy such an eager and energetic partner. Truly, she hadn’t thought of him at all, and certainly not to the point of distraction.

It was in an attempt to free herself from yet another recollection of Prince Sebastian’s kiss that she picked up the book. The tale was like a drug, and she was completely wrapped up in it. One of his favorites, he’d said. She knew why and she wasn’t yet halfway through it. It was an epic tale about a talented courtesan and spy with an affinity for pain. The book was long, she hadn’t gotten very far in it, and the supply of candles in her room was low. Plus, she had to get up, even though she didn’t have anything pressing. Planning her next lecture had already started, and this time she was determined to do a proper vetting before her guest spoke. She was in correspondence with two very likely candidates, and all she could do now was await their replies.

She picked up the book again and started to read it, skimming an exploratory hand over her breast through the fabric of her night rail. The nipple was pebble hard, and Melissa groaned at the slight contact. She wanted to read the story, to find out where the intrepid heroine would wind up, but her mind kept straying to Sebastian. Did he like any of these things? There was a particularly decadent scene in the story where the main character, covered in diamond adorned fabric spends a night with a woman she can’t trust at all, who is expert at producing both pleasure and pain. Melissa might like being covered in scandalously in only sheer fabric decorated with jewels and paraded about at a party, but until she’d read it, she had no idea how much the thought of it enticed her.

“Hawke, are you still in bed?” Isabela’s voice called through the door. She entered a moment later, and Melissa sat up in bed, slipping the book under her covers.

“I’m planning my day,” Melissa replied as Isabela sat down on her bed. Bela had been in better form since Sebastian took them out after the second lecture. There had been a number of callers for her, but Melissa hadn’t paid any of them much mind. Since she’d come back from the palace, she’d stayed to herself.

“Sure you were, sweet thing. Look, I’m getting out on the water today. Don’t worry, I’m not leaving, I just managed to find someone with a boat finally and we’re going on a jaunt up and down the river. It shouldn’t take more than a few hours, but I wanted to let you know.”

“You act like you might not come back,” Melissa said, hearing what Isabela was trying not to say.

“Not in my plans, I promise. I have to see your lecture series through, don’t I?”

“Have fun,” Melissa said, waving at Bela from her bed. The book calling her name, but then she looked back up at Isabela before she disappeared. “Bela, just remember what happens here stays here if it isn’t related to work.”

“I know, Hawke,” Bela said, returning her wave. “Have fun with whatever you’re doing today, Tiger, and remember not to kiss your prince. You can thank him for the excellent books he sent over when you see him.” She tossed that last bit over her shoulder, and before Melissa could answer, she’d left. If Melissa hadn’t known Bela was likely already on her way out, she wouldn’t have guessed, her step was so silent as she took her leave.

But her parting words presented Melissa with another problem, because she as sure that Prince Sebastian was going to show up today. After he’d caught her in his arms and she’d foolishly let him press those not quite chaste kisses to her neck, she’d canceled his visit for the day. Those kisses had unsettled her sufficiently that she couldn’t work, and it wouldn’t have been wise to have him back in her presence so soon, so she sent a note and her books along with a messenger. He hadn’t responded, at least not that she’d yet received. Instead of working, she spent the rest of the day in bed with the book he’d lent her, until she’d read far past a suitable bedtime and her hand was cramping from overuse.

This book was a menace; she could see why it was his favorite. When it wasn’t filled with beautiful erotic scenes, there was the twinned plot of political intrigue. The protagonist was a spy after all, and she used her assignations to get information for her master. Every page was rich with plot and both political and bedroom intrigue. It captivated Melissa so to see it sketched out on the page, so skillfully woven together, but she had to get up sometime, and she needed to go take a bath.

She was so caught up in the story that Melissa jumped when a maid knocked on her door. They didn’t have many servants and they’d left their household in Kirkwall to tend to Bethany and Carver. The young woman that entered, Melissa couldn’t remember her name, but she smiled warmly at her. She was an elf with a Starkhaven accent who’d come with the house, and blushed whenever she led Sebastian back to her study.

“There’s a message for you, my lady. It’s just come from the palace,” the maid said. Her eyes were a lovely jeweled shade of periwinkle and shone brightly as she handed Melissa the envelope. When Melissa turned over the heavy ecru paper, it was sealed with Sebastian’s personal seal.

“Thank you,” Melissa said. “Was there anything else?”

“Would you like refreshment soon? Your mother said to see to it that you ate properly.”

“Is Lady Amell here?”

“No, my lady. Her ladyship had social arrangements for today and left before luncheon.”

“Oh dear me,” Melissa said, sighing. “I hadn’t realized it had grown so late already. Can you draw me a bath, and then bring a tray of food while I’m bathing?”

“It will be done,” the maid said, bowing at her before leaving the room. Melissa held the letter between both of her hands. It almost taunted her, and she considered not opening it, but too much of her wanted to know what Sebastian had to say.

Upon cracking open the seal, another sheet fluttered free of the envelope onto the sheets next to her. Picking it up, Melissa found a map. The note with it provided little explanation, but it made her grin when she read it.

_Melissa,_   
_Meet me here, on the roof, tonight at midnight._   
_Sebastian_

He’d dispensed with the formal titles for this missive, and she wondered why. Were they truly past that point? She supposed they were if he’d kissed her so much that she was driven to distraction by the memories, but it felt so scandalous. If he wanted her on the rooftop of a building this was no mere jaunt. There had to be a point, and if she were to guess he had something to show her in the stars, but she had no idea what that might be.

The map was in his hand as well, with a few streets for direction and label for the building. An X marked the spot where he wanted her to go with the direction, “Climb to the roof. I’ll be waiting.” Well she could certainly do that, especially if he was waiting on her. The wording of this note piqued her interest, because it felt like a dare.

Giddy intrigue stole through her, and she knew she was grinning to herself. Abandoning the book, she got up to lock the letter in her desk drawer before heading towards the bath. She could hear the water pails being emptied into the large copper bath, and it was one of the few things she absolutely loved about this house. Unlike in Kirkwall, her bath here had a release at the bottom, so water could quickly drained. It wasn’t ideally situated, a bucket had to be held at just the right angle to drain it properly. It was on her list of things to do to make modifications to the design for her own tub.

But thoughts of modifications and inventions weren’t on her mind as she stripped down. The water was warm and unforgiving as she sank into it, bracing on the intimate parts of herself that she’d been busy overworking ever since she left Sebastian. That book, his kisses, and now this challenge, it filled her with the sort of excitement that she hadn’t felt in a long time. There were so many types of things that excited her, from working on her scholarship, or charming nobles out of their cash, but nothing beat the trouble that she and Isabela frequently found themselves in. Maker, she missed running the streets, free in the cloak of night, and filling her lungs with air as she sneaked in, out and around the trouble at their heels. Sebastian felt like all of those things mixed into a handsome package, as if he’d hold her hand as they ran through the night, work through theorems with her and happily help her tease sovereigns from rich patrons. The thought of that almost overwhelmed her, but Melissa tempered it with the knowledge that her compatibility with Prince Sebastian was as fleeting as his interest in her. Still, she couldn’t help but be excited to meet him tonight.

She heated her muscles in the warm water until it started to cool, and got out of the bath, looking forward to finally having some food. The warm water and her morning had left her ravenous, but her mind was always two steps ahead of where she should be. After tending her armor, Mother came home and it was a long evening of pretending to work in her study so as not to make her suspicious. Not that Mother would have stopped her precisely, but she would never have approved of Melissa climbing building at midnight for a rendezvous.

When Mother retired for the night, Isabela still wasn’t home. It didn’t concern Melissa that Bela was running late, but if she didn’t see her tonight, she’d have to check in on her in morning. Melissa put on her armor silently, foregoing obvious weaponry, she made sure she was nimble and completely disguised. On a whim, she tucked a collapsing brass spyglass into a pocket, not willing to waste a chance to see the heavens.

It was time to meet a prince on top of a building in the middle of Starkhaven. Melissa grinned to herself as she slipped out of the kitchen door and into the night. At least she wasn’t bored here, and who knew what tonight would bring?


	6. Chapter 6

She left early, since she hadn’t ever been to this particular building before. The map showed a small cross section of streets, and her target building was on a corner. Starkhaven was still a mystery to her, probably because she hadn’t the chance to get to know it in the darkness as she had Kirkwall. It was a cloudless night, and the absurd thought that Sebastian had arranged it that way for their excursion but this had just been a stroke of luck. The dual moons shone down their silvery light on her as she crept from shadow to inky pools of darkness that formed from the various buildings, statuary and decorative hedges in the city.

Exhilaration filled Melissa, making her skin buzz the way it had when Sebastian had been gently kissing her neck, molding his body to hers and making her lose all control. Checking her position with a convenient street sign, she put that stolen moment in his library out of her mind. She had to find this meeting, and the night was moving on without her. As she passed a loud party on her way out of the residential parts of the city, she heard laughter that reminded her of Isabela. She’d check in on her when she got home.

The building he wanted her to climb wasn’t hard to find, but she had to take her time and stick to the shadows. She didn’t need to get caught scaling the side of a building. This was another point that took time. Had it occurred to her to come during the day, it would have saved her trouble, and Melissa cursed her shortsightedness. With the moonlight to help her, the ornately decorated stone building wouldn’t be difficult to traverse, but she didn’t want to work hard when she could work smarter. The was a door that was sinfully easy to pick, and instead of making her way up the side of the building, Melissa took the stairs. She wasn’t sure what this building was used for during the day, but it was beautifully maintained.

Her fantastic solution didn’t get her all the way to the roof. There was no stairway access to the actual top of the building took her up a hatchway and through a tunnel. It was relatively clean, though there was enough dust accumulated to let her know that Sebastian hadn’t come this way. She wound up climbing up a ladder and then shouldering open a very narrow door at the top. When the squeaking hinges gave away her entrance, Sebastian took a step back from the edge of the roof where he’d been standing, looking down the side.

“You took the stairs?” he asked, laughter coloring his words as he strode towards her.

“I was going to climb, but I neglected to come here and scout it out during the day. No need to break my neck if I didn’t need to.”

“I can admire your pragmatism. I’m glad you actually came. I wasn’t sure,” he admitted.

“Why ask me to come here?” she asked.

“Look up,” he said, confirming her guess as to why he’d summoned her here.

She’d thought it would be similar to seeing the sky from her garden, or even from her balcony in Kirkwall, but she was mistaken. “Oh,” she gasped, surprised by the beauty of their vantage point. “This is beautiful,” she breathed, and it was, but beautiful felt like such an inadequate word for the unfettered view of twinkling diamonds across the clear night sky. It was every star she’d ever wished upon, showing up to oversee their night together. Sebastian cleared his throat behind her, and she blinked as she turned her head back towards him and his pleased smile. Not a smirk, but a truly pleased grin that he’d found something that she liked so well.

“This is the highest point in the central part of Starkhaven,” he explained. “The further out you go, especially towards the west, there’s mountains, but this building is the highest in the center of the city. Even though the palace is technically higher because of the pitch of the roof and the flags, you can’t easily have a midnight picnic on a flagpole.”

He gestured behind him and then offered her his hand. “I thought you’d be climbing up the building, and that works up an appetite, I can confirm.”

“You scaled the side of this with a picnic?” she asked, sitting down on the blanket that was spread across the slate tiles of the roof. It wasn’t completely flat, there was a slight pitch to the roof but it was safe to navigate. Sebastian’s lantern had a lit candle in it, and once they were sitting, they were invisible to people across from them or from below. Now, only the birds and stars might look down on their midnight meal.

“I took the stairs up part of the way, to where there’s a ledge that makes it easier to climb, and then I went up the side. I’m curious as to how you found the door,” he answered.

Melissa looked back up at the bejeweled night sky and found that she was oddly charmed by this whole tableau. He’d obviously worked hard to bring it to fruition, and she admired that he took her interests into consideration for it.

“I brought a spyglass. It is prudent when going out at night, but I had a feeling if we were climbing buildings I might get a good view,” she said, and Sebastian shook his head, as if she’d just confirmed his guess. That little motion sent a thrill through her, and she was glad that he knew her just that much, even if it was part and parcel of his seduction.

“I shouldn’t have kissed you the other day, Tiger. I apologize,” Sebastian said, and she turned to look at him. There was something off about his apology, but she wasn’t sure what it was, not yet. He continued on, “I should have waited for you to kiss me. It’s obvious you want me, and I shouldn’t have pushed.”

“Oh, it’s obvious, is it?” she asked, amused.

“Yes, but I promise I won’t tell anyone else, Tiger. Come on, let me open the wine and you can show me your spyglass.”

“How did you get everything up here?” she asked again as she took his hand.

“Don’t be too impressed,” he said as he led her to a blanket he’d spread out. “I brought only what could fit in one pack, which means our picnic is bread, cheese, and chocolates, and the wine will be served straight from the bottle.”

“Just the way I like it,” Melissa said. “This reminds me of Ferelden here. The sky is never quite so bright in Kirkwall.”

“Then I guess you’ll know what to do with that,” Sebastian said, pointing over to the side of the roof. On it was a dilapidated astrarium, one of the astronomical clocks that focused on one of the constellations in the sky. She’d studied these in order to build her orrery, but she hadn’t found any in Starkhaven. There were supposed to be three in Starkhaven, but this was the first she’d seen of them. The dull piece of machinery was once bright brass, but it stood derelict on a plinth.

“There are many talents I can best display during the night, but fixing that would require tools and more light,” she told him regretfully. “Better pass me the wine so I don’t get upset about it.”

“Tiger,” Sebastian said, sounding thoughtful as he uncorked the wine. He handed it to her without continuing his sentence, still lost in thought. After a sip of wine, Melissa looked up to find him staring not at her as she’d expected, but out at the sky. Sebastian kept staring, and she took another drink of wine. He surprised her by eventually asking, “Why study the stars?”

“Did you know that every star is a sun?” she asked. He shook his head and she went on, “At least that’s the current thought, that every single star you see in the sky is a sun. They’re all the different colors you see in the sky and we don’t even know why they’re colored differently and it’s impossible to find out if it’s aged or not, and given the fact that some scientists think that the heavens don’t have time as we do. We may never know why and how they’re different from our sun, but they are. They could have worlds near every star, maybe even more than one. And I don’t know if they have worlds around them or not, we can’t see into the heavens that well, but every star is a sun, Sebastian. In all likelihood, that means that there are worlds where you and I could sit in a place much like this, looking up at a completely different sky. That’s so, I don’t know, even what to call it. Amazing? Hopeful? Humbling? All of those things, I guess, but we don’t know anything about them. We barely know about Thedas, and yet I can’t stop looking up at the stars, wondering.” She handed him back the bottle of wine, not wanting to drink too much right away.

Sebastian didn’t answer her, so she began again, feeling surprisingly bold, at least bold enough for the truth. “My father died, you know that. And afterwards, my family was lost. People always say that loss binds people, but I’ve seen it break more than it binds. It almost broke us. I used to leave for school before the sun rose, and return home from working at night, with no breaks all day. My mother couldn’t move, she was so lost, she couldn’t do anything and my siblings were old enough to worry and too young to support themselves. It was just me, trying to hold us all together after we’d lost Father. The only time I got to myself was when I took the time to look up at the stars, and I came to love the nights, the quiet. I learned the shape of the sky as the seasons passed, and eventually we started to heal, not just grieve. Things got better, but I always found after that I sought out the solitude of the night sky just to catch my breath.”

“We share an affinity for the night. When I was a boy, I used to think no one could see me,” he admitted with a half-laugh. “Hell, it still feels like that sometimes. But at night, it was better to be invisible, to let the shadows take me. I could do anything, go anywhere. No one saw me, and the things I saw and learned, well, I profited from knowledge I shouldn’t have had or known what to do with for years.” He gave her a heart-stoppingly roguish grin half hidden by the shadows he so loved. “I learned the art of blackmail early, but only to gain my own freedoms. As I got older, I liked being out at night, and looking up at the stars and learning to love their light when I could use it, and love the absence of it. It was the first time I loved the lack of something, saw the other side of fortune. I loved using the darkness to hide my steps so I could truly become invisible.”

“What did you learn?”

“One of the first things I ever heard was that one of my father’s rivals was being controlled, not by his wife as everyone thought, but by her mother. They were having a scandalous affair, but I wasn’t to know that then.” Melissa made a face and he shook his own head at the memory, then went on, “I told my father about hearing the two of them scheming while we were at a house party. I’d been about ten years old, sneaking out the nursery because I was bored and too young to have much fun there. When I told my father what I’d overheard, he made me recount it no less than six times, and then he rewarded me with sweets. As he did, he told me I should be careful how I use knowledge I learn from secrets. When I asked why, he said that someone will always pay to keep things secrets, but to make sure it wasn’t me that paid. I think that’s the most useful thing he’s ever said to me.”

“You said there was food,” she said, making her question into a statement as she moved towards Sebastian’s pack. He picked it up and dropped it between them, taking out the bread and cheese he’d offered her. The wine was making her stomach swim, and she was hungry from climbing the stairs.

“This wine is passable, but I need more than a drink.” She was setting out the food as she said it, trying to downplay how much she enjoyed the fine wine, probably some of the best she’d ever had. As much as she wanted to admire the vista, it was the company that had her attention more than the stars. Alone together, at night, Sebastian was unguarded and both less and more at the same time. It felt like the charm he deployed so easily as a defense rolled back, and his own magnetic personality was allowed to shine through, like a star twinkling through cloud cover. The still of darkened Starkhaven all around them, the heavens sparkling and open above them, that was enchanting her too.

Sebastian chuckled at her understatement, probably guessing rightly how impressed she was with this all. As she glanced over at him in the darkness, more than half of his face in shadow, she wished she understood him better. The bread was at the top of his pack, soft and squishy in its paper wrapping, freshly baked, so she handed it to him as she dug further. He took it, his fingertips brushing her hand in the darkness. The chocolates came next, the confection still so rare that it demanded high prices at the shops, ingredients imported from north of Rivain had made some fortunes flourish since it had become so wildly popular. Her mind was thinking of the economy of chocolate, wondering if perhaps she should have gone into the confection trade instead of being a scholar, when Sebastian pierced her thoughts.

“Copper for your thoughts, Tiger,” he said, his voice pitched low.

“I was thinking about chocolate. Maybe I should have learned to make candy instead of doing these lectures.” She stuck her hand in one last time to retrieve the cheese and handed that to him as well.

“I don’t know,” Sebastian said, not looking at her as he opened the bread and tore off a piece, which he handed to Melissa. “You have a compelling theory about the stars, and it makes me want to know more. Your lectures are highly anticipated. I think there’s more of a need for scholarship than candy.”

“It would be better if I had a patron for my lectures. I was rethinking them, trying to see where I could improve. I’m halfway done with this series, and there’s so much yet to do,” she said, and then bit into bread so soft it was like eating a cloud, had it been made with generous amounts of butter. She moaned her appreciation, and Sebastian shot her a wanting look that reached her even in the darkness.

He cleared his throat before asking, “How far are you in the book?”

She shook her head at the change of subject, and then relented. “The prince and his mother have been put to death,” she answered. “It was quite moving, though it does feel very Orlesian with the ins and outs of the intrigue.”

“It was written by a Tevinter, not a magister or mage of any kind, but a woman that came to Orlais as a servant, and wrote the book based on what she saw, heard, and imagined. That’s why they all have Orlesian names. It was quite a hit in Tevinter, or so I’ve been told.”

“Have I reached your favorite part yet?” she asked, wondering what enticed Sebastian.

“I have many favored parts of that tale, but no. It’s very late in the story, but I hope you’ll know it when you read it.”

“Give me a hint,” she prompted, unsure if she really wanted to know what his favorite part was. It was almost delicious to know it was upcoming, but curiosity got the better of her.

“It’s near the end. I won’t give much else away, but it’s special, even in the story,” Sebastian said, and took a drink of his wine. Unexpectedly he asked, “Do you enjoy art, Tiger?”

“Yes, I do, I suppose. Maybe not more than anyone else. I’m not well studied in it, but I have an appreciation of many types of art and music. I can’t say I’ve been to the theatre much, but overall I do like it.”

“I’m planning another date with you,” he started, but she broke in.

“We’ve been on a date?”

“_This_ is our date. Neither you or I would have been impressed or interested in another date if I’d simply asked you to come with me out for a stroll along the river.” Sebastian said, and chuckled. “At least I hope you wouldn’t be impressed by that. Besides, we can only have real dates without others around, which is why we’re up here.”

“Why do you think that, Sebastian?” Melissa asked, on a shaky breath. She wasn't sure she understood what he meant, or rather if what he meant was the same thing on her mind. The thought of spending all of their dates alone was exciting, but she realized that they spent most of their time together alone, building the orrery. They were entirely proper, most of the time, but her mind had automatically gone to spending dates in bed with Sebastian, and she flushed, realizing that wasn’t what he’d meant. She stuck a piece of the cheese in her mouth to keep from voicing her betraying thoughts. The saltiness of it melted into creaminess on her tongue, the sharpness of the salt mellowed by the milk and the faint taste of herbs. It wasn’t as if the herbs themselves were mixed in when making the cheese, but as if they were far back in the process, maybe steeped in during the earliest stages. It was wonderful, and even better when paired with the bread and wine.

“Neither one of us can be honest when there’s other people around. I am _Prince_ Sebastian, Starkhaven’s most handsome and roguish prince, constant disappointment to my parents but never to my paramours. And you, you’re called Lady Melissa _the Scholar_, did you know that?”

A trill of pleasure raced up her spine at his words. “Am I?” Melissa asked, and laughed. It was quiet, but fueled by the wine and stars. “It’s apt, I suppose, and better than some things I could be called.”

“I’d call out anyone that dared to say anything less than complimentary about you,” he said, and his tone wasn’t possessive or bombastic, but he stated it as if it were mere fact. “I think that’s known too.”

“Sebastian,” she said, and turned to him. His eyes were blazing, the heat in them visible even the silvery slices of moonbeams and starlight that reached them. For a second, he looked as if he were carved from marble, statue hard and unreachable, and unthinking, Melissa reached for him. Her hand cupped his jaw, extending the caress up his face, brushing a thumb over his cheekbone until he closed his eyes and titled his head, leaning into her touch. She still wore her gloves, but she could feel the heat of him through the leather as the touch went on. “I’ll always be your friend.”

His eyes snapped open, and he looked straight at her. She dropped her hand as he pulled away from her, and she withdrew completely. “You’ll always be my friend,” he repeated, but it was a question.

“Yes. I mean I hope you realize that we are friends. This may be a date, but I don’t tell my dates my theories about stars or let them help me build models. I do those things with my friends. We can be both, for a time, but I want you to know that I’ll never rescind my friendship.”

“I want to hear all of your theories, in time. I,” he laughed and turned away, as if what he had to say next was embarrassing. She waited, not even moving to take another swig of much needed wine. “I’ve never had someone wish for my friendship when I was offering otherwise.”

“I want all of you,” she said, and registered what he might think of her words a scant second before he turned his amused look on her. Thinking about it, she found she didn’t care what it sounded like, because it was what she meant. She finally took a drink of wine, but Melissa didn’t back down. “I want everything, Sebastian. I want your stars and the darkness around them, your sunrises and sunsets and the spaces between them all. Only you can determine what you give me, as your friend, but Maker, I want it all from you.”

He sucked in a breath, and without another word, she handed him back the bottle of wine. He took it and drank, and she realized he wasn’t going to hand it back to her. They sat in silence for a long while after that, Melissa feeling exposed for being too bold, and unsure how to read him without the clues provided when she could see his face. He was sitting rigidly, but she felt him watching her even as she ate the last of the bread and indulged in some chocolates.

“Sebastian,” she said, finally breaking the silence, “see that star over there, the blue one?” She pointed at a spot just over his shoulder, so he had to turn slightly to see it. Melissa admired the outline of his profile, the full lips and slightly crooked nose drawn in bold relief by the moonlight. “That’s Rigel. It’s supposed to be the one of the brightest stars in the sky.”

“Supposed to be?” he asked.

“There’s some debate on how to measure the brightness of the stars, especially since they move and seem to get dimmer at times during the day. But Rigel is visible here in Starkhaven for most of the year. It’s always easiest to see during the winter, and disappears for a short while in autumn. Rigel’s part of a constellation, see the other three stars near it?”

“I do. They’re fainter, and one looks amber, not blue.”

“It is. You’ve good eyes. Later tonight, Rigel will be closer overhead, and near the horizon as the sun comes up. But now that you know it, you can always find it, bright blue in the sky.”

“Show me more,” he said, and she offered him the spyglass. He took it, and looked out, then looked back at her. “They’re so brilliant.” He sounded almost surprised, and she laughed.

After he went back for another look through the spyglass, he swung it around towards other parts of the sky. Melissa stood, extending her hand to him. “Let’s move so I can start where I know the most,” she said. Sebastian, still holding onto the spyglass, took her hand and let her lead him around the heavens. They didn’t speak of anything other than the stars and sky around them, but that suited her.

At the end of the night, Melissa obliged Sebastian and showed him the way she’d come up the building, so he didn’t have to scale the side with the better portion of a bottle of wine in him. At the bottom of the stairs, in front of the door where they’d part ways, he stopped her. Wordlessly, he cupped her face in the way she had done to him on the roof, though now there the light of his portable lantern illuminating them.

She could see him better now, even in this dim light in the enclosed stairwell, and their gazes locked as they stood together. She wasn’t sure how long they stood there, staring at each other as if they were afraid to look away. Eventually she did, but not because she wanted to stop looking at him. Unlike earlier when she’d reached for him, Sebastian had taken his glove off, and she did what was natural to her in the moment. She turned her face to kiss his palm, closing her eyes as she did. Melissa felt Sebastian sigh as she kissed his hand, pressing her lips with soft firmness into his palm, then turning back to him. His eyes had been closed too; she caught them opening as she turned to face him again. Then he dropped his hand, and they stepped apart. She gave him a grin that was an echo of the flirtation they'd once enjoyed, before slipping back out into the darkness that would lead her home.


	7. Chapter 7

His own heartbeat was driving him mad, because it was all he could hear thundering in his ears as he lay in bed. Maker’s breath, how many times had he pleasured himself since he’d gotten home? It hadn’t been like this since he was much younger, but at the mere thought Melissa he felt the beginnings of a cockstand once more. She hadn’t even really kissed him; he still didn’t know the taste of her lips or how her tongue would feel against his, but here he was, growing harder just imagining it. How celibacy had ruined him already, Sebastian didn’t know, but it was a sad day when a kiss to the hand had him ready for a marathon in bed. That he was alone in bed made it even worse, not better.

“Enough,” he said, sitting upright and getting up to see the morning sun seeping in at the very edges of his windows. Foolishly, he opened his own curtains and felt the glare of the sun blind him. Blinking, he took a step back and tried to admire what was bound to be a warm day, with crystalline sunshine filtering through his window, filling every corner of his room. He wasn’t an early riser unless by necessity, but most people in his social class or of the demimonde, the actors and artists in favor with the nobility, kept late hours. This morning was far lovelier than he deserved to see, all sunny warmth and cloudless skies that put him in mind of Melissa once again. Even the sunshine reminded him of her, but not as much as the sight of a starry night sky would from now on.

Three quarters of an hour later, he’d bathed and was finishing up his morning meal. He never ate breakfast with his parents, for one that would require his mother to get up and she liked early mornings even less than he did, but his father had never taken breakfast with his family unless it was a Sunday morning and they were all on their way to the Chantry together. It was his father’s custom to rise early, because his work necessitated earlier hours, much of the time, and he slept very little. To Sebastian, it seemed like his father had always been awake, working in some capacity, but that was the thought of a fearful child. Then again, His Highness employed so many people to assist him in the running of Starkhaven that someone probably was always awake and working on behalf of his father.

Over his breakfast, his thoughts strayed to Melissa so often, he wasn’t sure he thought of anything else. It was a gorgeous spread of food, the kitchens were surprised that he was awake so soon, but accommodated his needs. He had gone to bed after drinking with Melissa, but that was hardly bothering him this morning, aside from making him ravenous. He looked over the plates of toast, the pots of marmalade and jams, the breakfast patisserie, the decadent platter of sliced fresh fruits, and the eggs and meat that came with it. For him, there was always coffee in the morning, Rivaini, not Tevinter. Even if he’d wanted tea, he would be disinclined towards whatever they served him here after tasting Melissa’s special blends of it.

Sebastian took his coffee with only a light amount of milk and sugar, and he’d been sitting with it cradled in his palms for so long it was merely warm when he remembered it. _“I want all of you. I want your stars and the darkness around them.”_ Sebastian heard her saying it in his mind, and damn if it wasn’t the most romantic line he’d ever heard, even more than intended because she’d been completely sincere when she’d uttered it. If she’d wanted him for more than looking at the stars last night, after saying that, he would have given her anything she asked for. It was like she’d switched their roles, leaving him helpless to her seduction.

Sebastian didn’t mind this reversal one bit, not if it got him into Lady Melissa’s bed. No, that thought was wrong and it wriggled in his mind, slimy as a deep water fish. He didn’t want to be just in her bed, not anymore. And she was Melissa to him, no more titles when they were alone, she’d called him Sebastian. Perhaps that’s why the sunshine put him in mind of her, because she was ready to share her stars with him, but he knew little of the way she preferred her days. He imagined her like sunshine, but perhaps she was otherwise in her own mind. He didn’t know, but he wanted to, now that the realization was made. If she wanted his stars, the sunrises and sunsets, and all the darkness between them, would she let him see the same of her? Could he have her sunshine and rain? Would she let him be privy to the hours she spent hoping and wishing for something outside of her professional and academic successes?

“Your Highness, the Duke of Ros an Lar is here. Will you receive him?” asked the head butler. He’d come into the room without Sebastian realizing who it was, but now his head snapped up. Bertie’s father, previously a bann, had been made a duke a few short years before his death. It was strange to think of Bertie by his title, still so new that Sebastian sometimes forget he had it, and he almost never called him by it.

“Yes, please show him in. I’ll receive him here.” Sebastian was curious. Bertie was no more an early riser than he was, but in less than two minutes, they were both seated at his breakfast table, drinking fresh coffee.

“I know why I’m up this early, Bertie, but why are you?” Sebastian asked. He took a sip of coffee and put it down, deciding to eat more so the coffee could cool somewhat. Bertie looked uncharacteristically wan, his green eyes dull and tired, and his normally enviable head of dark hair looking limp and unkempt.

“It’s been a long few days. I wanted some company, but I wasn’t sure if you were up. I can go if you’d prefer to be alone,” Bertie said.

“No, stay. I don’t mind having you here. Have you eaten?” he asked. Sebastian had never seen Bertie this somber, so reticent to talk. He could sit with him for as long as needed. Bertie stayed seated, giving the food a cursory look. If he hadn’t known something was amiss before, Sebastian would surely have known it now; Bertie loved pastries, the more decadent the better, but he’d only given Sebastian’s finely made Orlesian patisserie selection an unseeing glance. Sebastian frowned but didn’t prod; silence worked best on Bertie. Had they just seen each other a few nights ago after Melissa’s second lecture, but Bertie was right, that felt like ages had passed since then. What could have happened since then? He hadn’t been the most attentive friend, not since he’d met Lady Melissa. Then his desire to spend time with her taken up much of his previously idle moments, once he’d been permitted to call on her at home. His mouth quirked up as he thought on her orrery project, and wondered how it fared these days without his attention.

“Sebastian, you have a faraway look. Is everything all right?” Bertie asked after a while. They’d been eating in silence, but Sebastian’s thoughts had once more strayed to Melissa. He’d been thinking about that kiss, the one she’d pressed into his palm like she’d written him a secret love letter. Perhaps she had, but this one was inked into his skin instead of vellum, the words invisible to all except the two of them.

“I was thinking of Lady Melissa,” he admitted, earning him a small smile from Bertie. “We were together last night.”

“Is she here? Should I leave?” Bertie asked, looking around as he did.

“Sit down, Bertie. She didn’t stay with me. I meant we went out together last night. She said something,” Sebastian said, forcing his mind to go back further than the kiss or her assertion that she wanted him as friends and more, but to the beginning of the night. “Lady Melissa needs a patron to truly be successful, otherwise her lecture series will just have been a diversion that amounted to nothing.”

“Aren’t you her patron?” Bertie asked, genuinely shocked when Sebastian ruefully shook his head at the question.

“Not as such. I can’t be, though I would dearly love that honor. My parents, you know how they are, if they think I care about something they’ll do their best to take it away or ruin it. I can’t let that happen to her. I already made the mistake of mentioning it to them, but they’ve done nothing to help her, and I know it’s because of me. I feel like I’m more of a hinderance here than a help,” he said.

“That’s easy, Sebastian. You know just about everyone in Starkhaven, at least everyone that could make a decent patron for her. Play the game. Get her several patrons that will support her. Hell, I’ll be the first one. I just didn’t think to offer because I assumed it was you. Get a few more to help her out, give her support for her next projects and then corner your parents. Tell Their Highnesses that while she has private support she needs public money and recognition, and if they don’t provide it, someone else in the Free Marches will,” Bertie said.

“That, that’s not a bad idea,” Sebastian said, astonished. “She needs the support after her last lecture.”

“Then she’ll have as much of it as I can give. If you want me to give her funds from you, without alerting your parents, I can do that too.” Bertie brightened and added, “Maybe this will get me in her good books so I can have a good word when I go to Kirkwall next.”

“Planning a trip?”

“Not specifically, but I always need contacts. I don’t know how my father did it most of the time, to be honest. He certainly didn’t tell me.”

Sebastian drank the last of his coffee, waiting for Bertie to go on. When he didn’t, Sebastian lapsed back into silence with him. He could think of at least three more people that would have a definite interest in supporting Melissa’s speaker series and her endeavors around establishing a university. Some ten more names were distinct possibilities for lending support once they knew others had. Yes, he could make this happen for her, ease at least that bit of worry from her mind.

If he could have done it, he would start a university for her all by himself, but he had little power. His parents had even curtailed his charitable engagements after an affair with an event organizer ended badly, and they contacted his parents for satisfaction. He frowned, thinking on it as he ate a slice of mango, the sweet and tangy taste melting on his tongue. That incident had been almost nine years before, and his parents hadn’t rightly restored his charities as of yet. Since then he’d just been here, idle, wasting time, getting older and doing the same thing year after year. That thought, just like the time he’d realized with Melissa that he was absolutely bored most of the time, it unsettled him. This time, he didn’t turn away from the realization, but let his mind start to turn it over. He needed more from this life, more than pretty diversions and a limited allowance.

Bertie’s appetite didn’t make an appearance, and Sebastian watched him fiddling with a pastry for a moment. It seemed that his friend ate it by rote, not tasting it or even realizing what he was doing. He might have drank his coffee in the sam way, had it not been so hot that he couldn’t ignore it. Loathe as he was to break the silence, Sebastian suspected that Bertie might not say anything if he didn’t, which was unlike him. His friend was by no means a chatterbox, Bertie was given to keeping secrets, but not with Sebastian. It occurred to him that he didn’t know when they’d become confidants, but they had.

“Let’s go fence, Sebastian. I think I need the exercise, and it seems like we both need to clear our minds. Unless you have other plans?” Bertie asked, but Sebastian shook his head. He rang for a servant, and ordered a carriage. Wile there was a big enough space and equipment at the palace, he never fenced here. That sport was what got him out of the echoing marble hallways, out into his sporting club, a place he actually enjoyed. It helped too that unlike pugilism, it had protection for his face and other soft parts, not someone aiming right for them. Among his family he was the best at it as well, and the fact that he was actually good at it showed his father that he did, in fact, have a measure of discipline. It had been one of the few examples in his favor when he’d had to argue for his own freedom.

Of course, then he’d blackmailed his way to power, at least to ensure that he had the power to control his own freedom in most matters. He still had duties such as they were, but all his secret hoarding and information trading hadn’t been for naught. When his parents thought to revisit the topic, Sebastian need only remind them that they very well shouldn’t send him away to the Chantry, lest they want their own standing to suffer. It was a tricky game, dealing with his parents, but in that case, Sebastian had been fortunate. He knew his father would pounce on him for that success, so he’d endeavored to do nothing, to care for nothing, to want nothing, just to further thwart his father’s desire to punish him for that victory. It had worked until now. That’s why he was so worried for Melissa, and didn’t want to be her official patron. He would doom her to failure just so his father could vent some wrath at him, and she didn’t deserve to be part of that fallout.

If he’d wanted Bertie to confess to him what was wrong on the carriage ride over, that was a vain hope left unfulfilled. Bertie was still distant and preoccupied, though not as much as he’d been when he first came to breakfast. Neither of them were talkative as they stretched and suited up, and by the time he was testing his grip, Bertie was already waiting for him. Bertie, habitually late and often inebriated, was practicing his footing and looked more confident than ever with his epee as Sebastian entered the sparring room. It wasn’t busy, it almost never was in the mornings. There were a few more early risers filling the air with the clashing noises of steel on steel, the patter of feet moving rapidly across the floor. It invigorated him, sent an arrow of anticipation shivering down his spine.

They went out together, and once the referee shouted “Engarde!” the first match between them was swift. Sebastian was always quick on his feet, but so was Bertie. Before he’d let himself go to seed, he was once nearly as fleet as Sebastian. But that his footwork suffered was a boon to Sebastian, who was still a little tired from his late night on the roof with Melissa. Bertie fought hard, but Sebastian had more skill, still he had to work for it. They started again, and went for two matches after the first. Sebastian, dripping with sweat, called an end to it afterwards before he worked off all of his breakfast. Bertie was sloppy in their last match, and more brutal for it.

“Let’s take a break,” Sebastian said, though it was apparent he had no desire to continue at the moment. An attendant with a towel had already come to attend to him, and he wiped his face with the fluffy white face towel on offer. They went to sit on one the benches for spectators, both of them relieved of their swords by attendants, who were also on hand to provide refreshment if needed. Sebastian waved off the offer of chilled drink, but Bertie took a goblet of water and drank it hungerly. They sat, and Sebastian waited, correctly reading Bertie’s mood now that the’d worked out some of his frustration.

“I’m sorry, Sebastian,” Bertie said in a low voice. “It’s been a hellacious few days. Do you remember Nicolette Duchamp?”

“Of course,” Sebastian said, but held back the part that he knew her rather too well, having slept with her and then suffered a slap in public when she found out that he’d also slept with her sister, Cheri. She spoke to him now, most of the time, but it was always with a cool reserve. While her sister had not minded, Nicolette had, and he regretted that his profligacy caused her pain.

“She’s with child, and while she’s unsure of the paternity, there stands a good chance that it’s me, or Meckel,” Bertie admitted. After he said it, he let out a relieved huff of an exhalation that Sebastian wasn’t sure was intentional, but underscored the weight that the words carried.

“I take it that it’s too soon to ask a mage to run the tests?” Sebastian asked. He too had been asked more than once to prove that he wasn’t the father of a babe. He never was, but that was because he took his own private precautions. Refusing to take the test would have made the summons to take it public, so that a magistrate could enforce it once establishing that both parties had been together at the necessary time. It was easier to take the test and show that he wasn’t the father, ever.

“She says she’s only five months gone. I truly can’t remember much, Sebastian, but the timing fits. It’s just, you know how I am,” he said with a shrug, and then followed with, “and you know Meckel. He’ll have gone to see her alone more than I would. Though she and I did sleep together once more afterward we three were together. The last time it was just the two of us.”

“The three of you? She has changed.” While Bertie, like him, reveled in some debauchery, he rarely had a taste for sleeping with many people. Bertie’s inclination was to be a watcher, a voyeur that relished seeing it all and not necessarily participating. That he might even be in the running to have fathered Nicolette’s child surprised Sebastian, and he tried to think of a way to tactfully say as much.

“I’ve never known you to like Nicolette that well.”

“We got on well enough but it was a party where she approached us, and asked us back to hers. I was surprised when she didn’t kick us out the next morning. After that, she sent an invitation by courier and we both went back, then she came to my townhome for me alone once after that. I’m not sure how many times Meckel visited her, or she him. None of us were serious about it, but rather just looking for something to do, at least for me and Meckel. I can’t claim now to know what her intentions were or how she was feeling, and it’s my failure that I didn’t think to ask then.”

Sebastian frowned at the explanation, and wondered if this was how his family felt whenever he’d been summoned to the test for paternity. Six times it had happened so far, and only during the first had given him legitimate cause to worry. But Nicolette Duchamp and the time frame of five months ago, made something in his memory flare, like kicking over a stone and uncovering a jet of water that hit him straight in the face.

“You were here last hurrah. She was going to take her vows just after that. Did you fuck in the Chantry?” Sebastian whispered, and Bertie nodded a glum confirmation. Sebastian let out a low whistle of appreciation. “It’s been a while since I’ve been that blasphemous. So this child would be yours or Meckel’s entirely, and that’s what got your worried. She’d be compelled to either break her vows or give the babe to its father and surrender her own custody. Which does she plan to do?”

“I think that rather depends on who the father is. If it’s me, she’s bearing my heir. True as that might be for Meckel as well, the fact that he has something on order of ten nieces and nephews means providing an heir directly isn’t as necessary for his title to continue. It’s put my marriage plans on hold, since my position will ultimately be changed if I already have my heir. It means I can marry someone that I want, rather than someone my mother thinks will bear me many children.”

“Would you marry her?”

“She has no desire to be wed or a mother, unless it’s in the Chantry.” Bertie gave a mirthless laugh and went on, “Or so she said when I asked. I told her I would buy her out of the Chantry if she so wished it, but Nicolette is honest about her desire to stay. I think her private celebration was just her nerves at making such a big change. A last taste of her old life, as it were. She’s actually leaving the Starkhaven Chantry and going to Orlais after all of this is over,” Bertie said. “I think that if I were Meckel, she’d probably say yes, but my habits and peculiarities are too known to her.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Bertie. I don’t think it’s that,’ Sebastian said slowly. He was thinking hard, brow furrowed in concentration. “Nicolette found the Chantry suits her in most respects, and I think despite her recent behavior, it will help her. Think about her personality; Nicolette is easily wounded. I think that she would see your offer as one of pity, and that’s not what she wants right now. Her pride, and those vows she took, that’s what she has to hold onto, so that’s what she’s trying to keep. Furthermore, forgive me for saying this, but the two of you would be an ill match. She’s prideful and holds grudges, and you would spend your whole life trying to please her without knowing exactly she wants, since she’d never come out and say it.”

“I suppose you’re right about that, but the quality of her character can’t be denied as well. She’s a fine woman.” Sebastian nodded in agreement, as Bertie went on, “I want a spouse, Sebastian. Don’t you? Don’t you tire of this and wish for someone to understand you? Someone in whom to confide and share amusements, to love well after you’re in love with them? I guess it’s the death of my father and inheriting his title and responsibilities that has made me maudlin, but I do wish for it.”

“Aye, sometimes I do. But then I remember my family, and I’ve no wish to inflict them on someone else for life.”

“There was Marc, but you know how that ended, and then my father died and I’ve been drifting ever since. If I could have a child to make legitimate, a family of my own making, well. I feel like until Nicolette told me that her child could be mine, I hadn’t known that it was family that was missing from my life. The dowager duchess and I are at odds more often than not, and I miss the way my father bound us together,” Bertie said, heaving a heavy sigh. Marc Clery had once been the love in Bertie’s life, the man he thought he might marry once upon a time. Their relationship, so pure and innocent when they were younger, turned nasty and was filled with too much history and hurt by the time they all might have considered marriage. Marc went to Antiva, where as far as Sebastian knew, he still lived.

Sebastian clapped Bertie on the shoulder and stood up. “Bertie, I think all we do is wait, not just for Nicolette, but to finish this conversation.” He nodded at the woman striding up to them. “I think Captain Isabela’s looking for a match.”

It was Isabela, and if it hadn’t been apparent by the form fitting leather she wore in a perfect white that looked like it was painted onto her body, it was when she planted herself in front of Sebastian and took off her helm before she poked him in the chest. “Don’t you have someplace else to be?” she asked in a falsely sweet voice.

“Is something amiss with Lady Melissa?” he asked immediately, but she waved a dismissive gloved hand at him. All of her jewelry was set aside so she could fence comfortably, and only her honey brown eyes shone like carnelian in the light of the room. She wasn’t here for him, that was for certain, but why was she here at all? Sebastian wondered it even as she answered him.

“Hawke’s fine. I need to spar with the duke here.” Isabela had the kind of fire in her eyes that Bertie wouldn’t be able to match, even if he had still been holding in his secret. Sebastian gently pushed her hand away from his chest. Her hand was warm and small in his, and surprisingly soft. Isabela shot him a look so sharp as he released her hand but he gave her a smirk.

“Indulge me first while Bertie catches his breath. If you want to be challenged, that is,” he said, letting the last part slide off his tongue with the casual disdain that showed it clearly was a challenge, and one he didn’t expect her to accept. She gave him a wry smile, one that must have been an echo of his own.

“I do so love to try some of Hawke’s challenges. I accept,” she said, and they walked away from Bertie. He shot Sebastian a grateful look from where he sat, as Sebastian prepared himself for another few rounds when his mind was someplace else. With a gesture of his hand, he was able to retrieve his epee, and Isabela, already armed with hers, waited for him. It was the second time today that he’d been the last party to ready themselves, but Sebastian didn’t mind the situation. Isabela paced with a sangfroid, not practicing flourishes, but seemingly testing her own agility against the floor.

They fought fast, but the matches seemed to go on for a while. She was quick and fought dirty, but Sebastian was more practiced in this style of dueling than she. Had they been anywhere else, he was aware he wouldn’t have had a chance against Isabela, because she was only indulging him here, pretending to be bound by the rules. Within the rules, he could win, but outside of them, he would be little more than mincemeat upon her platter. She only won two of their three matches by cheating, but of course she cheated. He had to admire that she was good enough at cheating that the referee didn’t call her on it. That wasn’t why he’d asked her up here. It was to get her away from the wounded and confused Bertie long enough for him to pull himself together. As much as he could accept that she wasn’t malicious, he also didn’t trust Isabela wholly.

He bowed, conceding to the fact that she’d cheated her way into a victory. But her swordplay had reminded her of whom he should next call on to aid Melissa. He hadn’t been trying to prevail in their matches, he’d only won once, but he’d been working to counter her blatant cheating. But their duel, had reminded him that cheating was often part of the way matches were played out, the way people prevailed to keep power systems intact even when they were unjust. He gave his sword to the attendant that had been hovering near their match, and pulled off his mask so he could bow again.

“Captain, you’ll have to forgive me. I had an excellent time, but there’s a matter that requires my attention,” he said, his mind already five steps ahead of his body, toward his next stop.

“Good. If you’re done distracting me, I want a word with your friend.”

“Go easy on him. He’s been facing hard truths,” Sebastian cautioned. It wasn’t a request.

“I have no intention of harming him, Your Highness. I just want to talk.”

“Isabela,” he said in a tone of warning, but she laughed.

“Go on with your business. Hawke will be angry with me if I upset you, and that’s more important than that glare you’re trying to give me.”

“Tell Lady Melissa I’ll call on her as soon as I can, but I’ll probably send a note before that. I suspect I’ll have much to tell her before I can see her again,” he said.

She raised an eyebrow at him, but didn’t make any other acknowledgment of his words. Sebastian strode off, leaving her alone with Bertie, and whatever it was she wanted to say to him that Sebastian wasn’t supposed to hear. Could she already know about Bertie’s paternity problems? Probably not, but it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. He would have to call on Bertie later to see what the issue was, but not before he finished his business and saw Melissa.

Sebastian needed a fresh bath and one of his nicest suits to call on his father’s long term mistress, a woman he loved like an aunt. It had been far too long since he’d seen her anyhow.


End file.
